How to keep oneself from burning out?

I was wondering how other people cope with the stresses of modern life.

For context I'm 20, in my last year of university, and working as a software developer at my city's minimum wage.

My typical week day routine is:
  • Wake up at 7:00 to brush teeth & wash face, shower, if I have laundry then put it in and start a timer
  • Leave the house by 8 to make it to my morning lecture at 9, or to the office (work) if I don't have a lecture
  • At 12 I go from uni to work or work to uni, depending on where I was
  • At 13:00 I take a break to eat & maybe grab a beer, post things out, run errands, or meet someone to chat about a work or uni-related thing
  • At 14:00 I resume working
  • Come home at around 18:45 and freshen up
  • 19:00, cook dinner
  • 20:00 wash dishes then work on my dissertation for an hour
  • ~21:00 finally allow myself to be idle, browse reddit or play a couple of rounds of Overwatch or something
  • 22:00 smoke a bit of pot, listen to music, and ease myself into bed
I basically go through an entire day of exhaustion for maybe an hour or two of downtime before I sleep and do it all over again. Weekends are better, but they're also when I have to do literally every other household chore (cleaning, grocery shopping, organising drawers & papers, etc.) My life has been like this for months and despite this I just barely make ends meet (often need my father's help to pay rent). My monotonous lifestyle has become quite soul-crushing at this point and I feel like I'm due for a mental breakdown over the next 2 weeks because I'm just not having fun in my life at all and have to keep myself from asking why I do it at all.

The thing is, I know this is not an unusual lifestyle for a young person in this day and age (thanks economy!) So how do you all cope and keep on clinging to your sanity?
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I would work full-time but as per UK law as a foreign student it is illegal for me to work more than 20 hours a week

Have you considered tutoring? I have done maths tutoring for many years and loved it. Most parents will be happy to pay you cash-in-hand, so you don't have to worry about not being able to work enough hours to get by. As long as you have enough knowledge, older school students are best because they usually know what they need to work on and you don't need to spend any time preparing a lesson beforehand. But younger students have no idea and are only there because their parents are making them, and you'd have to spend time talking to their teachers to see where they're struggling and preparing lesson plans.

Not sure what the minimum wage is there, but here I make about 2.5 times the minimum wage per hour - minimum wage is around $19 an hour and I charge $50. The disadvantage is travel time for only 1 hour of work but if they live close by that's negligible. Even better if you can convince them to come to your place. I would also advise offering a discount for if they pay a term in advance - this way if they cancel a lesson at the last minute you're not out of pocket. I had one student once whose mother cancelled a day or two before about 2 out of 3 lessons. It was so annoying because I would have other plans I could have done that I had declined because I was tutoring >:-( The next term I told her she had to pay a term in advance and she did!

Maths is the subject more people need help on (being compulsory) so is quite lucrative, but whatever you're studying at uni or whatever you were good at in school can be good subjects - eg physics, chemistry, biology, legal studies, English, foreign languages, business studies, etc etc etc.

This doesn't really help your burn out issue too much, but a bit of variety in your week can help you. Especially if you find it fun, or you get on well with your students so you look forward to seeing them.
 
I wouldn't waste my time writing stuff here to call the OP brat, it was meant for Deonaught. Also, my (first post) point stands as well.

As for the competition, the way things are in a third word like Chile, that was my point. Real life is a bit difficult here and there is quite a bit of competition. As result there isn't room really for burn out.
 
@Coto I have lived in a 3rd world country my entire life before moving to the UK ~2 years ago, so I do get where you're coming from. My point is that being in a region where, generally speaking, everyone has it rough does not make you immune to burnout. Burnout just happens; if putting yourself in more strenuous circumstances means that there's "no room left for it", then I wouldn't have a problem at all would I? (Also: see cases where people burn out so hard their doctors make them take medical leave.) Obviously, I don't have the choice to just drop everything and relax or I'd end up on the streets pretty quickly. It's not a matter of "Should I keep on going?" but rather, "How do I do so without hating my life?"

Incidentally, (I don't speak for everyone, but in my case: ) I have found that moving to a cosmopolitan hub has made life incredibly difficult in terms of affordability. Costs are much higher and salaries, while also higher, are not proportional. I wouldn't trade it for the world, but it's a different set of problems than I'd have back home.

@Quantumcat I really like the idea of tutoring. I have been told that I explain things really well and used to do it on a voluntary basis (for free) throughout my secondary school years. Not sure how easy it would be to find clients in a big city that would be a <1 hour commute for me, but it's worth a shot. Thanks :D
 
You need to share your time with someone.

If you see someone at your school who looks like they need coffee, treat them to one. You'll thank me later.
 
@lucifer666

And my point is that once you live your real life, you'll be thankful to feel burnt out.

In Chile having a good life is real difficult, and not for everyone. So if you mean you know what i am talking about your burnt out issues then it should be the least of real life concerns.

My point is pretty simple: I am answering your question. Live real life and you will have little time to even worry about issues. Or get medical help if you feel posting for responses isn't enough.
 

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