Burned Out?

I didn't really believe in the concept of "burning out"; I thought it was a cop-out for not having the motivation to follow through on your responsibilities. But I think, since I've taken on a wider breadth and greater depth of responsibility this year (in addition to a more intensive course load), I've lost motivation to push myself. Don't get me wrong; I consider myself extremely fortunate to be able to call Stanford home, especially given the immense opportunities I have been given through my attendance, but I think I need some time to re-prioritize and see what I want to be doing next year. I'm studying what I love, and I'm doing what I love; it's just that some of these things have lost their luster. Take dance, for example. I feel stuck. I'm not excited about dancing with DV8 anymore, and its affecting my love for the movement. I'm the type of person that only does something if provided with the correct motivation.

School is an interesting situation for me at this point. I've finally decided what I want to study (social entrepreneurship), but I'm not motivated in many of my classes. Of course, there is the beautiful weather and the fact that it's spring quarter to consider, but those aren't strong enough reasons to hinder me from pushing myself. The fact is, I've been doing this work-my-ass-off thing since high school and I just want to relax. A specific thought entered my mind today: I don't have any time to even read books for fun because I have so many commitments. That really upsets me because, if you know me at all, you know that reading has made me who I am. It's just a really frustrating situation to know that I'm at this amazing school, studying an emerging field, and that I'm not loving every second of it. Is a year off really what I want to do? I guess we'll see.

[P.S. I'll probably be using this space to do some really poor creative writing (e.g. short stories, poetry, maybe potential book chapters?), so BEWARE.]