tea

Hey, neurodivergent tumblr! I've been reading a lot about autistic & ADHD burnout, because I'm either actively burning out right now, or I have reached the full-on burnout stage.

I'm a late-diagnosed autistic and even later-diagnosed ADHDer. I'm currently a full-time MBA student with insufficient accommodations this semester due to ongoing drama with the school's disability services. This will hopefully be remedied next semester when I get yet another neuropsychological evaluation in December. Hopefully.

I have chronic, treatment-resistant depression, so it's been extra hard to get my meds right. My Vyvanse hasn't ever helped me very much with motivation, but it seems to improve my focus a little. Then, of course, I caught COVID right at the beginning of the semester, and while I'm "recovered", I'm … exhausted on the weekends and really struggling.

And I was probably actively burning out before all of this.

There's not a lot of firm research on the subject, but one strong recommendation is to … not mask? Which … I kinda don't … know how to do? I think?

So I'm trying to give myself designated Autism Time; that is, a time when I specifically Do Autistic Stuff or Do Stuffy Autistically so that I can have a break from … The Everything.

Specific advice of what works for you or that you've heard from others is welcome. General advice like "do something relaxing" will … not be helpful because I do NOT know what that means.

If you have ND followers, please, please, PLEASE reblog this. There's very little useful actionable advice about how to handle this kind of thing short of "become institutionalized for a few years to decades while you recover" and I would rather … not … do that, if it can be avoided. Please, help me survive this by giving me any tools you have to manage it.

Thank you all so very much for reading.

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Wow, this got pretty wide reach even with just a basic $10 blaze!

Thank you to everyone who shared this. I'm not very active on Tumblr. Before the blaze, I only had 11 followers. I wouldn't have been able to reach so many people without you. I got 4,885 impressions during the blaze, and 113 of them were just from people reblogging.

Thank you to everyone for your advice, even if it's not helpful to me personally, diversity of ideas and experiences is extremely useful because if it worked for you or someone you love, then it's going to work for someone else, even if it's not me.

Please keep sharing your advice and experience; there is an ongoing discussion in the autistic community, and there's no real research right now. I know that there's one study that's currently being done. Unfortunately, the results won't be out for a few years at the very least.

I made different versions of this post for multiple social media platforms, and I'm compiling all the responses I've gotten into a massive document, complete with an attempt at meta-analysis so that I can offer those suggestions to the wider autistic community.

I'm strongly considering re-blazing a reblog version of this in 3-6 months, probably at the $25 tier, with a summary of my meta-analysis, and probably notes on what has been most helpful to me, so please look for that so we can spread what I've learned to the wider autistic community. I want to do what I can to help others heal their burnout or avoid burnout altogether.

ouirg *explodes*

A poet is a nightingale

Who sits in darkness

And sings to cheer its own solitude

Witch - an evil person depicted with magic powers

Faery - a small being that has magic powers, often with wings

Elf - a supernatural creature depicted with pointed ears and capricious nature

Ogre - a man-eating giant

Wizard - a person depicted with magic powers

Warlock - a practitioner of witchcraft

Knight - a mounted soldier in armour who serves the throne

King - the ruler of a country

Banshee - a spirit whose wailing warns of impending death

Gnome - a dwarfish creature who enjoys hoarding treasure

Nymph - a spirit of nature who lives in rivers and trees

Selkie - a person on land and seal in the water

Merperson - a half person, half fish who lives in the water

Leprechaun - a small, mischievous sprite

Crusader - a fighter in medieval crusades

Mage - a magician or practitioner of magic

Halfling - the offspring of a human and member of a magical race

Henchman - loyal supporter of a person

Witch hunter - a person who hunts witches (alternatively, fae)

Hunter - a person who hunts animals

Seer - a person who can see the future

Dwarf - a member of a race of short, humanlike creatures who typically live in underground mines

Archer - someone who shoots a bow

Necromancer - someone who can raise the dead; the practitioner of dark magic

Cleric - a priest or religious leader

Rogue - a character capable of sneaky and nimble tricks

Bard - a poet who typically recite epics or song

Demon - an evil spirit or devil

Dragons - an often fire-breathing giant winged reptile

Ghost - an apparition of a dead person

Werewolf - a human who transforms into a wolf under a full moon

Shifter - a human who can transform into an animal

Psychic - a human who can tell the future

Gods - a superhuman being with mythical (and often unlimited) powers

Angel - a spiritual being often represented as an attendant to a god

Troll - an ugly creature depicted as a giant or a dwarf

Vampire - a corpse who may transform into a bat and uses long, pointed teeth to suck the blood of humans in the night

Dark elf - an evil supernatural creature depicted with pointed ears and capricious nature

Undead / zombie - a corpse come alive

Orc - a member of an imaginary race of humanlike creatures, characterized as ugly, warlike, and malevolent

Golem - a clay figure brought to life by magic

Ghoul - an evil spirit or phantom

Goblin - a mischievous, ugly creature resembling a dwarf

Lich - an undead creature

Imp - a small, mischievous devil or sprite

Paladin - a knight renowned for heroism and chivalry

Thief - something who steals property, especially by stealth and without using force or violence.

Priest - an ordained minister of the church

Druid - a priest, magician, or soothsayer