A few days ago, my friend revealed to me how stressed out he is. Of course, I recommended tea and meditation, but he said he just wasn’t motivated enough to try and form any new habits. “I’m just burnt out,” he claimed, but I knew this was more than burnout.

This is a very common occurrence. Some kids between the ages of 17 and 18 experience burnout. As a matter of fact, a lot of them do.  Burnout that hits kids in this age group is more commonly known as “senioritis.”

While senioritis is often known to be the outcome of high school seniors just not caring anymore, I personally have a different definition. In my opinion, senioritis is just burnout dressed up a little bit nicer.

Of course, there are plenty of students who really just don’t care. These are often the teens that you’ll find going to crazy parties or cutting class. However, I know that the majority of the people that I’ve asked have agreed that it’s not that they don’t care — they’re just mentally exhausted. Wantagh High School senior Melissa LoPiccolo explained, “When I’m not studying, it’s not like I’m out partying — I’m just laying in bed.”

Many high school seniors can relate to this.  I can personally say that when I’m not studying, I’m either working on furthering my film career, laying in bed, or just feeling sorry for myself. To be totally transparent, I wouldn’t be talking to a counselor if it wasn’t for school. I got through the Christmas break nearly worry-free, but the morning of the first day we went back to school, my stomach was in knots.

I don’t mean to imply that everyone gets severe anxiety in school, but regardless of the degree to which we stress, after 4 years of intense classes and endless homework (along with an additional 9 years of school before that), many of us seniors simply don’t have the mental strength to get through the year without skipping a few homework assignments.