Graduate school is an intensive experience of socilazation that involves breaking you down and rebuilding you into a scholar. That process is painful, stressful and involved. You will stretch in ways you never could have imagined, and will literally find that you will come to see the world in a different way.
Sometimes it can be difficult to sort out whether you are expericing a period of stress, or whether you really are burned out because this isn't the path for you. If you are reading this because you can't decide, here are some steps that may help you step back and analyze:
Where are you in the program?
If you have a major milestone like a thesis due, you just need to make sure that you will have the energy to get across the finish line. You may also want to consider whether you are tired of graduate school beaucase of where you are in your program, or whether this really just isn't for you.
Talk to other graduate students. Is it normal for people to feel this way around Comp exams/Coursework phase/insert other milestone here? Depending on your program, there may be milestones when people tend to evaluate what they are doing and where they are going.
Sometimes we need more help in determining stress and burn out. I can't recommend enough the use of a good therapist (which is often covered through your graduate student fees), or a good book like Finding Your Own North Star or the Artists Way.
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