How do I know if I'm burned out from practicum?

Graduate school stress is expected, and a busy practicum week will leave you tired. The useful question is whether rest fixes it. Normal stress is roughly proportional to what's on your plate and eases after a good weekend. Burnout tends to persist even after a break and changes how you relate to work you used to care about.

Common warning signs

• Physical: fatigue that sleep doesn't resolve, getting sick more often, headaches, or disrupted sleep.
• Emotional: feeling drained, numb, or irritable; projects that once excited you now feel flat.
• Behavioral: pulling away from friends and activities, procrastination that worsens as deadlines approach, slipping work quality, or leaning more on alcohol or other substances to cope.

No single sign means you're burned out, but a cluster that lasts for weeks deserves attention.

What you can do

• Protect real recovery time. Schedule evenings or a full day off as a fixed commitment, not a reward for finishing everything. The piece on the guilt of taking time off explains why rest is part of doing good work.
• Cut what you can. Look at your total weekly load (classes, practicum hours, job, commute) and identify one thing to drop, delay, or shrink.
• Tell someone who can adjust things. Your practicum coordinator may be able to extend your timeline, reduce weekly hours, or let you pause between terms. Programs generally prefer an honest conversation to an unexplained drop in performance.
• Use campus support. Your counseling center or student services office can help you sort out what you're experiencing and what would help. If you're feeling hopeless or unable to function, reach out to them, or to emergency services, right away.

Finishing your practicum after recovering serves you better than finishing depleted. For more on warning signs and prevention, see burnout before entering the workforce.