Now that the school year is coming to an end, the weather’s warming up, sports are somewhat coming to an end, and there’s just more time in the day now for other things.
You may find yourself busier than usual, and it might feel great at first! But eventually, you might get caught up in all the fun things you’re doing. Then you’ll get home after your long and busy day, and reality quickly comes back into play.
These sudden strikes of reality can really burn someone out. Let’s talk about the ways being busy all the time can affect your mental health.
There are a variety of reasons you might choose to stay busy for the majority of your time. You might use it as an escape or distraction from emotions, the mental high you get that you just want to chase, and so much more.
Fight or Flight Mode
There’s a thing called “Fight or Flight Mode” that you might experience without even realizing. But the causes of it may sound very familiar. Let’s break it down.
When you’re in Fight or Flight mode, your body has a response to a commonly packed schedule. Your stress levels and responses are activated, leading to high cortisol levels, as well as poor sleep, and reduced immune function (Course Health). This could look like: Skin breakouts, little to no appetite, increased irritability/anger, consistent feelings of being overwhelmed, stomach aches, difficulty making decisions even if they “should” be very easy, etc (Clarke).
Scenarios You May Need to Evaluate
Like mentioned before, you may have symptoms of burnout and exhaustion from being busy all the time, and not even realize it. Let’s talk about some scenarios you might come across that you should stop to evaluate.
Starting with something simple. You come home after a long day of school. You feel tired and exhausted, but then your friend messages you asking if you want to hang out. Immediately, you have a rush of energy and excitement. Heck yes! You think to yourself. You’re out with your friend(s) all day, until it’s finally time to go home. The weather has gone from sun and blue skies to almost pitch black and chilly outside.
As soon as you walk in the door, the house is quiet, because everyone else is ready for bed, or already sleeping, but you. You quietly hop in the shower and look at the time. You realize it’s almost the time you usually go to bed, but today you still has tons of homework and studying, your clean bedding to put on your bed because it was just washed, and you still haven’t eaten dinner. You move quickly through your shower because you’re starting to get overwhelmed at the amount of things you still have to do.
The warm shower made you tired, but you take your backpack to your room anyway, and grab a muffin on the way to your room. It’s not quite enough.
You sit on your bed and start to take out all the homework you have. All you can really do is stare at it. Stare at all the work you have, stare at your messy bed around you that has no sheets on it.
This is where you need to evaluate your feelings and what’s going through your mind.
Remember these feelings of stress, and actually make a mental note of it. I don’t like feeling this way, so I’m going to try and not do this to myself again.
Another scenario might be that you’re at home after school, and your parent comes up and asks you what you want for dinner.
You realize you should be starving at this point, since you hadn’t eaten a thing all day. But instead, you feel a slight stomach ache, and no hunger. But at least you know your favorite dinners to have, right?
Except as you go to throw out an idea, everything sounds gross and you feel like you can’t think of anything. Meanwhile your parent is still waiting for an answer, so you get overwhelmed and say something snippy.
You don’t know why exactly, but your mind couldn’t make a simple decision on something to eat, and that was very irritating.
This is where you would stop to evaluate in this scenario. Why did that irritate me so badly? Why do simple questions get on my nerves?
Being busy for the majority of your life can seem amazing and fun at first, but eventually it will catch up to you and it’s got to be one of the worst and most overwhelming feelings you can have. So be kind to yourself, because remember: You’re the only person who is truly in control of your actions and time. With that being said, give yourself time to do the things you need to do first, and still leave time for the things you want to do!
Works Cited
“Being Busy Is a Trauma Response | Western Tidewater CSB.” Western Tidewater Community Services Board, 27 August 2025, https://www.wtcsb.org/why-staying-busy-can-be-a-trauma-response-and-how-to-slow-down-for-better-mental-health/. Accessed 12 May 2026.
Clarke, Jodi. “How Being Always Busy Affects Our Well-Being.” Verywell Mind, 3 December 2025, https://www.verywellmind.com/how-the-glorification-of-busyness-impacts-our-well-being-4175360. Accessed 12 May 2026.
