Myk raises an important topic here re: autistic burnout being a distinct thing. Here are a few practical points which I think are worth sharing:https://twitter.com/mykola/status/1131055183138643969 …
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Vague, but: as well as much more rest, a key component in my recovery, was slowly increasing activities which I'd identified as invigorating/balancing, not draining. These are usually minimally social, include some physical movement. Otherwise recovery stagnated.
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Try to build the capacity to notice positive emotional states even in the midst of exhaustion, memory problems, speech issues, sensory processing stuff, all of that crap. Contact with gratitude, love, contentment, enjoyment, however subtle, was profoundly helpful for me.
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As you begin to regain some capacity and willingness to do more stuff, keep track of what you think the warning signs are. I think that a big component of managing burnout is gaining visibility on hidden costs of pushing through & living as if you have unlimited resources.
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I suspect there is a distinction to be made between recovery time — which is pretty much standard daily/weekly part of being autistic — versus full blown autistic burnout, which is much worse, can take months/years to heal from.
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Last point, is about the kindness of normalising burnout as being a thing at all. It can be really terrifying to have a sudden collapse in cognitive function. You might assume you were going mad or something. Reading others' stories & knowing I wasn't alone, was/is helpful.
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