How to avoid autistic burnout (Is it even possible?!)

Can't afford to burnout. Can't afford to take time off. Lord, give me the strength to persevere.

The problem I have, when I know how long I have to rest, it stops being restful. I can't stop and enjoy the quiet, because the deadline for getting back to work is just hanging over me the whole time. Rest time just makes me even more tired

I’m the same unfortunately neurotypicals don’t understand this even those who are close to us. We are accused of being selfish and lazy when we are anything but selfish and lazy

Paranoia, constant self doubt/reflection, reactionary mindset, stress, social phobia is taxing

For most of my 50+ years, before realizing I was autistic, my work pattern confused me. Like you, I would work in intense bursts of focus and energy, sometimes for 2 days at a time, hardly stopping for food or rest. Then I would basically collapse physically, emotionally and mentally. At one particular stage of my life, I instinctively took a 'mental health' day off about once a month. I would spend all day watching daytime soap drama. Normally, I hate them, just not finding them interesting or relevant, but one day a month I would relax on my bed and watch them back to back, until I was completely sick of all the ridiculous drama, and ready to get back into my own life. Eventually I ended up with a long, extended breakdown type burn out. I self diagnosed a few years ago, and now understand myself better, my whole life makes sense. But the incredible stress I've put on myself over the years, trying to 'be normal', has caused long term health issues I think, along with harmful medications and bad relationships. I now have an extremely low tolerance for stress, or any kind of 'work', including personal projects. I get physically unwell a lot these days and have to rest. Self understanding from a young age and living authentically as who we really are, is key I think.

I found that taking a nap, even as small as 15 minutes can reset the fatigue.

One of the most useful things about finding out I have Asperger's has been the realization of having burnouts. I've definately learned that unless I put the necessary recovery breaks into my schedules, my body takes them by force. I compare myself to a computer, if there's too much stuff going on, the system freezes and requires cooling down and a thorough reboot. For me, the idea of a 9-5 job, 5 days a week, is very anxiety inducing. I live my life through "projects", which consist of thorough planning, working intensively (almost around the clock) for a short while, and collapsing when I'm done. For me, interacting with other people is although sometimes enjoyable, always more or less exhausting, and since my diagnosis, one of the ways I've tried to improve my life has been arranging my calendar so that I have social activities only on a couple of days a week, and in between these days, time to recover and focus on my own things. And I also have noticed that after a longer stressful period, the recovery time is longer. I have serious trouble hopping from one project to another, and interruptions and distractions are very stressful. Once I'm in burnout mode, usually I first stay in bed, in a dimly lit room, in fetal position, and often just sleep. The next step is focusing on things that help me recharge. Watching TV doesn't really give me energy either, but if I'm really burned out, I rewatch my favourites to calm down. Then I make art and let my mind wonder, and usually, at some point, I get a new idea for a new project, and the cycle starts over.

I never even considered that I could be autistic, but I stumbled across this channel and it's blowing my mind how much I relate to this. I'm a grad student and I can literally only work four hours a day. Then I have to take the whole rest of the day off. I can't just take a break and then work on something else, I have to do nothing the whole rest of the day. And I feel really embarrassed by that, because in my program we're literally being paid to do our grad work and we're expected to put 40 hours a week in. And I look around and see my classmates toiling for hours and hours every day, and I just can't do that! But on the other hand, I'm also aware of how super efficient and productive I am when I work. It's just like what he says, I burn super bright and get a LOT done, but then I'm done. No more executive functioning, no more nothing. But I probably get as much done in 4 hours as most people get done in 8 hours, or maybe more.

In the past, before I discovered I was Autistic, I'd hit these moments where everything was terrible. I couldn't handle anything and it honestly felt like a mental breakdown. But in looking at these moments with new eyes, I see that, it is just like you said. We burn VERY bright. And VERY quickly. When I'm focused, I can super crank out production, but if I don't have that energy reserve - If I didn't get to recharge, I am done. Spent. Kapoot. I'm on a mini-get-away currently, and it seems to be helping. I just wish I could put away some energy for myself. An emergency tank that I can tap into, when 'too much' is 'too much'. Or level up my recharge speed. That'd be nice.

Getting physically sick from burnout is such a blessing, especially now that covid has everyone afraid of fevers.

Thanks for the topic. I completely bottomed out with burn out and lost all executive function about 10 years ago. Am gay and didn’t know I was autistic. So when I crashed from masking my autism and sexuality and went to get help I was misdiagnosed several times before a friend suggested I read John Elder Robinson. Needless to say all my symptoms were finally addressed this year — diagnosed on the spectrum 4 years ago. My therapist shot me several articles on Autistic Burnout and BAM! Described to a T what I had been struggling with for 10 years. Am just now getting structure in my life so I can’t say what would help but after masking my sexuality and autism for 50 years I think I will just learn to be me and let the haters hate. Their problem not mine.

Like.. I just recently got this lightbulb moment when I researched autism and aspergers syndrome. Everything just clicked. This is the answer I have been looking for all these years. I have not even thought that not all people experience things the same way as me, and always felt like an oddball. These videos have just helped me so much to understand myself better and to be more forgiving when I just can’t do the same things than neurotypical people. Thank you so much!!

I’ve found that autism burn out is because we don’t feel pain as much.. leading to putting our bodies to the limit and further. I’m currently a little burnt out, my tinnitus starts ringing harder.. I found practicing yoga helps keep mind body in tune.

Upon watching the video, my mind has been changed. You just have to pay really close attention to what your body is telling you, and designate a rest day for yourself. I totally agree with you Paul!

I’m very burned out right now and struggling to increase executive function. I seem to experience burnout periodically, so I’m very excited for this video!

I'm so glad I found this channel, even just reading the comments made me feel less alone in my experience. I've been working in a 9-5 office job for about 7 years now and still feel like I'm not used to it yet, compared to my coworkers and peers who seem to handle it fine. with covid and everything I think the long term burnout has finally caught up to me to the point that I'm really struggling to keep up. sometimes weekends are barely enough for me to recharge after a busy week.

idk why this showed up in my recommended, but I'm glad it did because this channel seems very helpful. +1 sub

My dude, since finding your channel it's like a huge knot of confusion about myself has been unravelled. Finally seeing that other people's experience of life has been as difficult and confusing as mine has been incredibly reassuring, and has made me feel like I'm actually doing OK considering the tools I'm working with. Thank you so much.

I can certainly relate to operating in bursts. The trouble is in a lot of places you can't work/operate in a cycle of a few days intense activity followed by a few days resting.

That last part about wanting to do fun things that take energy really hit home