The Autistic Life

EP03 - Understanding Autistic Burnout

March 10, 2021 The Autistic Life Episode 3
The Autistic Life
EP03 - Understanding Autistic Burnout
Show Notes Transcript

A deep dive on Autistic Burnout, what causes it and what we can do about it to help ourselves and/or support those experiencing it. Music: “Theme 27, Version 2” by Joe Kuta published by Jos. M. Kuta Music Publishing, BMI. Podcast sponsored by Tiimo (more information: https://www.tiimoapp.com). Resources mentioned: "10 things you can do to recover that don't involve sleeping" Instagram post: (https://www.instagram.com/p/B8uIXTIBR1j/), "Neurodivergent people and self-care" Instagram post: (https://www.instagram.com/p/CIGffgMB6lP/), "Sensory overload recovery ideas" Instagram post: (https://www.instagram.com/p/CLKNJyyBmdu/). "Neurodivergent Self-Care Ideas: For When You Are Feeling Drained" ebook (https://www.theautistic.life/product-page/neurodivergent-self-care-ideas). Transcript: https://bit.ly/30yP7ei

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EP03 Transcript

Host (00:29):

Hi friends, welcome to The Autistic Life podcast. This is episode three and I'm getting the hang of things. Well, kind of, if you don't consider the fact that I meant to record this last week, but I couldn't. I think that I'm getting the hang of things. Yeah, I, as I said, I meant to record this last week, but I was so burned out after working so hard on February that I just had no energy left for anything else. Which leads me to the topic of this episode, as you may have seen from the title. I'm going to talk about today about Autistic burnout. What is it, how does it feel, what can we do about it. And essentially try to understand what happens to us during Autistic burnout. But first, let's talk about my beloved sponsor, which is Tiimo. For those of you who don't know, Tiimo is a paid subscription app that helps you organize your life.

Host (01:45):

create routines. You can add checklist. You can link the app with your calendars, which is really cool. So you can keep up with everything going on in your life in a very visual and helpful way. If that's something that you're interested in, please head over to tiimoapp.com (https://www.tiimoapp.com). There you have a lot more information about them, or you can just go to my show notes to learn more about them. And just a quick disclaimer, before we jump right into the episode, as with everything I put out there in terms of resources, whether that's on Instagram or on Patreon, or here, there's nothing fixed when it comes to Autism. So my experiences may be entirely different from yours and both are equally valid and important to discuss. So please take what resonates with you, if anything resonates, and just leave the rest.

Host (02:45):

As I said earlier, I've been having some rough couple of days where I've been emotionally drained and creatively dried and physically exhausted. And I knew that meant I was entering burnout territory. So I want to start this episode by defining what Autistic burnout is. Although please keep in mind that there isn't one way of experiencing Autistic burnout since it greatly varies from person to person. So I, I'm going to say like a ton of things and you might not experience them simultaneously. And it doesn't mean that you're not experiencing Autistic burnout and maybe I leave out some things and again, it doesn't mean that you are not experiencing Autistic burnout if you are experiencing those that I left out. So please keep that in mind. So, Autistic burnout happens when an Autistic person has been exposed to prolonged stress.

Host (03:53):

We've been spending a lot of energy on living and our coping mechanisms have become flooded as a result. And this can manifest as intense physical, mental, or emotional exhaustion. Sometimes. most times, we experience all of them combined to some degree or another. Autistic burnout can be caused by several factors, such as masking for too long or too often taking on more tasks or commitments than we can handle, receiving too much sensory input or too much emotional input. Several changes happening in a short period of time. I mean, so many things. But the core of it is that all of these things start to add up so eventually we end up overwhelmed to the point of complete exhaustion. During an Autistic burnout traits can become more noticeable and challenges, more challenging. And as a result, they are harder to cope with.

Host (05:06):

Not only that, but if the Autistic person has coexisting conditions, which is often the case because rarely Autistic person is just Autistic, those can be impacted too, like anxiety, depression, ADHD. So we might be more anxious than usual leading to panic attacks, anxiety attacks, nightmares, insomnia all of the physical symptoms related to anxiety, such as trouble breathing, sweating, stomach aches. Our executive functioning skills often go straight to the trash so managing our emotions is difficult. Focusing on things is almost impossible much less remembering things and organizing things and controlling our impulses and so on and so forth. So there's a lot that is happening and because we may find it harder to regulate our emotions, we might be more sensitive to experiencing outbursts of sadness or anger and meltdowns and shutdowns. Not only that, but sensory processing wise, all of this stress and hypervigilant state that our brains enter in order to protect ourselves, usually lowers our ability to tolerate certain sensory inputs that we would otherwise be able to if we weren't so exhausted.

Host (06:40):

So for example, we might find ourselves more sensitive to lights and sounds and textures, or we might find ourselves actually fitting those when we actually don't do that. That totally depends on your sensory processing system which all of that can lead to being more sensory overloaded more often. So let's say that an Autistic person who is burntout is more sensitive to sensory input, therefore is constantly sensory overloaded, and sensory overload can easily escalate to a shutdown or a meltdown on a regular basis. Those are already tough to recover from, but when you are on Autistic burnout, we might not fully recover making us more exposed to experience that again. And we know that meltdowns and shutdowns are incredibly exhausting, which further deepens the burnout exhaustion. So if a human is experiencing this, let's just take a moment to soak all of that.

Host (07:55):

At this point, you have an Autistic human with little to none executive functioning skills available due to this exhaustion so accessing skills such as focus and organization and planning and memory, those are out of the question. You have an Autistic human who is more sensitive sensory wise that may not be able to access abilities such as speaking and taking care of themselves because they are constantly sensory overloaded, who there's a very, very good chance they are completely disconnected from themselves because they have no energy left to do things that make them happy, which often leads them to depression and anxiety becoming even more exhausted and more debilitating in the process. So you can see that it's a big deal. And the sad part is Autistic burnout can last anywhere from weeks, months to years. It can be long term because it can be so hard to recover from precisely because it's so easy to enter a loop where you experience things that trigger other things that keep exhausting you and never let you recharge your energy.

Host (09:23):

In my experience, Autistic burnout feels like an incredibly exhausted and anxious version of me who is more sensitive to sensory overload and looks "more Autistic" than usual because meltdowns happen more regularly. Shutdowns happen almost daily, and it's harder for me to access my ability to speak. Forming sentences becomes overwhelmingly hard because I can see the idea of what I want to say in my head, but I can't order the words in a way that I can yeah. That I can get them out of me. So yeah, it becomes really challenging to actually communicate what I'm going through and everything becomes slower, so much slower. Thoughts, movement ideas. And I think that precisely because my thought process becomes slower, I tend to compensate that, but attempting to make it faster. So my anxiety tends to skyrocket and I have this moment where I become super hyperactive, but I'm not doing anything actually.

Host (10:43):

Like, all I do is like, I'm deeply nervous and anxious, and I feel like I must run away and disappear, but I don't have the energy to do that. It's a weird feeling. But yeah, just, I have like this like, like these intense waves of energy that just go nowhere because I actually can't do anything about them. So it just, I can't actually access that energy. It's, it's a very weird feeling. I also experience a lot of emotional overwhelm and I, I tend to be a lot more sensitive. So things that otherwise wouldn't be hurtful for me are completely, completely heartbreaking when I'm experiencing Autistic burnout, because I'm just too exhausted to process my emotions properly. So they just, they hang in there and they stay within me and it's yeah. And things affect me a lot more than, than usual. I'm a super emotional person, like

Host (11:59):

in my best days. And as an Autistic ADHD person, my emotion regulation is just, it isn't naturally the best. And I've been working really hard on therapy for the last year, trying to develop all of these skills that can help me process things better. The thing is that while I'm experiencing Autistic burnout, I just I can't access those tools. So

Host (12:33):

if I have any arguments or any exchange that is emotionally heavy during Autistic burnout, it's just, it becomes extremely overwhelming for me because when I'm not experiencing Autistic burnout, I have to be conscious of all of these things when receiving that kind of information. Like I need to be conscious of taking a moment before responding or taking a timeout to process things. I've shared about this in my Instagram stories, on my account that is called The Autistic Life, in case you don't know. I've talked about how I have like a delayed emotional response to things so when things happen, like an argument or someone gives me like a bad news or just emotional news, I just, I need to take a conscious moment to process what the other person is saying to me. And many times, most times I need to, yeah, I need to take a timeout to process things.

Host (13:54):

So for example, if I have a problem with someone or an argument or whatever I need a moment to process things and I need to retrieve a bit from the situation, because if I stay in the situation that is emotionally charged there's a very good chance that my emotions take over and I end up having a meltdown. So it's really important that I'm conscious about these things. And I'm like trying my best to understand what what's being said and just take a moment to, "okay, this is happening. Take a deep breath. Let's unpack this before, freaking out," essentially. That's, that's what I tell myself. But during Autistic burnout, I, I don't have the energy to do that. So it's easier for me to fall into these moments where my emotions take over and I end up having a meltdown. And I was able to see this happening to me last week.

Host (15:02):

I've been in burnout territory since the last few days of February, as I said before, and I found out some stuff that were very... Well, they weren't necessarily hurtful, but they hurt me. And I had a meltdown that day. And then three days later I had another one regarding the same topic. And then I shut down. Anyway, I believe that if I hadn't been this exhausted and burnout, I would have been able to process things better. I would have been able to, yeah, like I said, just take a moment and be like, "Hmm, okay. This means this and this person is saying X, Y, and Z. And it doesn't mean anything." Instead I ended up spending the entire day in bed crying, which is not something that I experienced often, especially since I started taking antidepressants.

Host (16:07):

And then, yeah, like three days later, I, I was able to keep it together for the entire day. And I kid you not the second I turned the lights off and I placed my head in the pillow. I started sobbing like weird sounds and movements solving. And then I fell asleep and then I woke up and I did it again. That was fun. I'm being sarcastic. It was not fun at all. It was horrible. But yeah, I, I know that if I hadn't been this exhausted about other things, I think I would have been in the right head space to, to process things better, which yeah, it, it would have helped me avoid all of these days that it had afterwards. That's why I feel like the best way to explain these things I experience is that my coping systems are just completely over-flooded and it's not possible for me to access these tools that allow me to process things better.

Host (17:25):

And the same goes with my sensory processing system. Things that otherwise I would be able to tolerate, during burnout they instantly become like a trigger, a sensory overload trigger, which is all very connected with the fact that burnout completely ruins our ability to mask, which is very connected seeming "more Autistic" than usual to other people. We just, we don't have the energy to tolerate things and cope with things and mask it's just... our brains are doing everything they can to, to survive, essentially. I think the most frustrating part of burnout and the saddest part too, is that, you know that if you weren't this exhausted, you would be able to handle things better. So you get frustrated with yourself and the whole situation makes you take it out on yourself when you need the most support and care and compassion.

Host (18:38):

So it it's tough. And not only that, but the fact that our executive functioning challenges get more intense and more noticeable can affect our work and school performance which means that burnout can also impact our jobs and school and income and livelihood and dreams and self-esteem. I mean, burnout happens in a way that if left unchecked can easily make it even harder for you to come out of Autistic burnout.

Host (19:18):

So, aside from the intense physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion we may also experience a loss of skills. And like I said before, like our ability to process things and manage things because our coping mechanisms can be, and often are, cut off by the burnout itself. So it might get to a point where our coping skills such as stimming and engaging with our special interests aren't even possible to access because we are just too exhausted and yeah,

Host (20:00):

too disconnected with ourselves to actually do something about it. Which again, you guessed it, makes you be even more exhausted and even more burnout. And then there's also the response that our environment has. If you are lucky enough to have an environment that understands that you have different needs, and sometimes these things can happen, it's usually way easier to recover because you have enough support available. Unfortunately, it's not the case for... I don't know want to say most Autistics, but I kinda know that it's not the case for most Autistics. So, most of us can't, yeah... can't afford taking a break because it would mean that we would lose our jobs and our families would be affected and we would get in a lot of trouble. And it's just, it's really complicated.

Host (21:01):

And now that we discussed all the negative things I want to talk about some ways of getting out of burnout so that it, this isn't just like me acknowledging how awful Autistic burnout can be.Host (21:17):

Again, please keep in mind that this is not a list. And if any of these things don't work for you, it's fine. It's just, it's really hard. As you can see, there are so many factors playing and it depends on so many things that recovery also will depend on many others. So if any of this sounds like this wouldn't work for me, it's okay. As I understand things due to the fact that some of our coping mechanisms may have broken entirely and we may not be able to deal with certain situations anymore. The best thing that we can aim for is to reduce stress. And I know that's not easy at all. Especially when the source of stress is coming from your own environment and you can't actually remove yourself from your environment but seeking support from your community, friends, partners, family members, anyone that can help you in any way can be very well helpful.


Host (22:37):

Help can be helpful. I should add that to a t-shirt. But yeah, it can actually be very helpful. Support might not help you reduce stress especially if it has nothing to do with them, but at least it will be that you will be better equipped and supported to deal with the stress, if that makes sense. And this support can look like having someone offering you do the grocery shopping or household chores or cooking for you or doing the laundry for you, like tangible support that can really lessen the load for you so that your stress levels start to slowly lower. And not only that, but this kind of support can actually provide you with more free time to rest and recover, which again is also very needed in this situation. So it can be really helpful and support can also look like doing something fun and completely unrelated to work and school with someone that you trust during burnout, it's common to not have enough energy to even do things that you know, that will make you feel good.

Host (23:55):

So, support can also look like having someone encouraging you to do these things, these activities. I really want to acknowledge though, that reaching out for support can be really hard. In my case, it doesn't really come natural to me to reach out to people and be like, "Hey, can we talk? I need to distract myself from things that are happening in my life because it's too much and I need to do something completely unrelated to that." Like it just, it's very hard for me to do that, but said that reaching out to someone you trust, who knows what you're going through can make interactions way easier because expectations are in alignment with what you're going through. That's why I think that community support can be super helpful because what better person to understand what you're going through than an Autistic person who has experienced Autistic burnout?

Host (25:03):

Yeah, that, that can be helpful sometimes though sometimes I just want to rest and I don't want to talk to anyone. I just, I don't have the emotional capacity to do anything else other than sleep, which is also helpful because Autistic burnout impacts on so many different areas. And it isn't just the cognitive part and it isn't just the emotional part and it, isn't just the physical part. It's all of them combined. So things like sleeping and drinking more water and doing your very, very best to feed your body can also give you enough energy to do things that make you happy, such as engaging in your special interests and talking to people that you love and doing fun things with them which eventually will help you not only reconnect with that part of yourself, that you may feel like you've lost during burnout, but it will also give you emotional comfort, which will eventually lead you to have more energy, to allocate to cognitive aspects such as creating and organizing and planning and all of that, which will impact positively in your self-esteem.

Host (26:21):

So while, it's super easy to enter the cycle of burnout and have everything in your life making it worse, I feel like recovery can also be super expansive and it can impact in different areas of your life that can eventually lead you to recover from Autistic burnout. During the weekend, I asked on my Instagram account @theautisticlife, if you had any questions on Autistic burnout. And so many of you had so many I'm going to answer some of the most common ones. And then I'll, I'll try to answer the other ones in my stories. I'll start with the most asked question by far by far. I mean, I don't have the actual numbers, but I think that I received, like, I don't know, probably like a thousand questions and I saw this one, like 300 times, like I'm not exaggerating. Like it's just, it was very often and it makes sense.

Host (27:33):

Which is how can you tell the difference between Autistic burnout and depression? And yeah, it makes perfect sense to confuse them because they do feel incredibly similar, especially when you are going to describe them. So I'm going to try to explain the difference in a way that it makes sense. And again, this may not resonate with you, if you experience depression, maybe you're like, "yeah, no, that's not me during my depressive episodes." And that's, that's fine. That's okay. This is how I understand things based on the things that I talked to some of you and the things that I've researched about this. So, when trying to distinguish these two I think that it's important to remember that you don't have to experience all of these things that I just mentioned that usually happened when you are in Autistic burnout.

Host (28:35):

And the reason I need you to keep this in mind is because the core symptoms of depression are low interest in things that used to be interesting for you, sleep changes, low energy, feelings of worthlessness, ongoing feelings of sadness, emptiness, hopelessness. And if you pay attention to all the things that I said before about Autistic burnout, you can see that they are often confused because many, many symptoms overlap with one another. However, and this is the main difference I think, is that the mood changes associated with depression, such as sadness and emptiness and lack of interest are not an intrinsic aspect of Autistic burnout. They are not an intrinsic part. They can be a part of Autistic burnout and usually are because many times, and this depends also on how long we've been Autistic burnout, many times we experienced them both simultaneously.

Host (29:46):

So it's super easy to experience all of these symptoms. All of these things that we have during Autistic burnout and the ones that we experience during the depression, but these mood changes that are so, so linked with depression, like the ones I mentioned, like sadness, emptiness, feelings of worthlessness, those are not core characteristics of Autistic burnout. So let's see this in an example. So if you're in Autistic burnout, there's several things happening in your life that are overwhelming you and your ability to handle them decreases completely because of this. You just, you have no energy to, to deal with them and everything that I just said before, right? This can definitely, definitely make you feel sad. Definitely. However, if someone would come to you and say, "Hey, you know, all of these things that are currently overwhelming you, I just took care of them.

Host (31:00):

All of them everything's done. Everything's paid. Everyone is satisfied. All your problems are solved here, please rest and recover. Knowing there's nothing to worry about" like there's a 90% chance you, you will feel relieved and you, you will be able to breathe and recover from that overwhelm because nothing is like sucking the energy out of you and you, and you have now space and time to recover from that overwhelming feeling. But with depression, if someone would come and say that and offer the exact same help, there's a very good chance. You'd be like, "meh", because it wouldn't make a difference because the situation is far more complex than just stress and all of these overwhelming feelings. Now these are not exclusive and you can definitely have one on the other or enter Autistic burnout and be stuck there for so long that triggers your depression.

Host (32:17):

Or you could be so depressed that you just don't have enough energy to deal with stress. So when you experience stress, you enter Autistic burnout. If you've been diagnosed with depression or you tend to have a lot of depressive episodes, or you've been diagnosed with anxiety like myself, and I tend to be more anxious than depressed, if that makes sense, like I do experience depressive episodes. But my main thing, when it comes to mood disorders is anxiety. It's just, my anxiety goes to the roof and I experience panic attacks and anxiety attacks and all of these things. And yes, it's a different thing in comparison to Autistic burnout. But in my case, they are incredibly linked. Like I experienced them both and both impact on the other. So yeah, that, I feel like if you still have doubts about how to tell the difference between Autistic burnout and depression, there's a very good chance that you might have both. And just imagine that, imagine if someone would come and tell you that everything is solved and there's just, there's nothing to worry about if that gives you a relief gives you like a sense of "that would be so cool. Oh my God. I, it would be amazing" there's a very good chance you are just experiencing Autistic burnout. But if that idea doesn't really fix anything yeah, maybe there's, there's something else. And it's maybe it's more depression than Autistic burnout. I hope that makes sense.

Host (34:13):

Okay. So second most asked question. What's the difference between Autistic burnout and regular burnout? So in case you don't know, there's already a thing called burnout, which neurotypical people also experience that is often linked to work-related stress and responsibilities.

Host (34:40):

At the very core of it, it's similar to Autistic burnout in terms of lacking energy to do, to do things due to the fact that you are experiencing severe stress, but Autistic burnout happens as a result of having to navigate a neurotypical-dominated world as an Autistic person. So, in an ideal world, if Autistic people were accommodated when overwhelmed and had access to support and therapy and were able to achieve financial stability and so many good things, if, we were living in that world, we would just experience regular burnout like everyone else. With the exception that we would experience all of this things that are just core traits of Autism, like meltdowns and shutdowns and stimming and all of these things. But yeah, it's just the core of it is that, that we are trying to navigate a world that is not built for us sensory wise, cognitive wise, emotional wise. So, I think... This is according to me, I think that's the main difference between just neur-typical burnout and Autistic burnout.

Host (36:19):

Third question which was also a lot, a lot of you asked this question, and it makes sense as well. You said something like recovery ideas that don't involve sleeping because you... Maybe you have kids or you just, you have a busy schedule and you just, you can't be taking a zillion naps during your day. So one of my favorite ways of slowing down when I need to is breathing exercises and meditation. Now, I know that if you have an anxiety disorder like me, you're probably rolling your eyes right now, because you might be tired of being offered this. Like, you're probably tired of someone suggesting, "Oh my God, you should try breathing exercises and meditation" I know I was, but when I started doing it, I realized why so many people were so quick to suggest those.

Host (37:31):

The main thing about them, and the thing that I feel like it can be very helpful for Autistic folks, is that it allows you to slow down and regroup yourself fairly quickly because many there's a lot of guided meditation resources out there that are 15 minutes long tops. So, you could do it like in the bathroom, for example. So that's one way that I feel like we can recover and kind of like, yeah, just reconnect with ourselves. Just a moment like, and you can do it several times during the day. So for example, you can wake up and just, you, you can wake up like 15 minutes earlier and just like start your day by meditating and just like connecting with yourself. And then, I don't know if you have a break during your morning, or you go to the bathroom, you can just do another break and just focus on your breathing and meditating and just connecting with yourself.

Host (38:46):

I found that is that it's super helpful. It's very soothing and calming and it honestly, it's the thing that's been kind of keeping me together during this particular burnout that I'm experiencing right now. Another way of alleviating the effects of burnout that don't involve sleeping or naps or whatever can be reevaluating your priorities and setting boundaries around that. I know this one is tough, and hard, and complicated and exhausting, but I genuinely think this is probably one of the best, if not the best way, to prevent Autistic burnout, mostly because many of us don't realize we are stepping into Autistic burnout until we are already there. So we keep saying yes to things and to plans and to people without realizing that we are already exhausted to do anything with it. So, reevaluating your priorities can look like writing down all of your upcoming responsibilities and events and commitments and seeing which ones you can delegate to someone else and which ones you can reschedule and which ones you can count on somebody else helping you and which ones you are absolutely stuck with and need your most attention.

Host (40:25):

So that, that can really help you, kind of like declutter your to-do list that is causing you so much stress. I have an Instagram post on recovery ideas that don't involve sleeping. And I also have another one on Neurodivergent self-care ideas, and I also have another one that sensory overload recovery ideas. And I also have an ebook on self-care ideas for when you're feeling drained. So I'll add all of those to the show notes as well, so you can access them if you're interested. Just so that I don't repeat myself and I leave a bit more space to answer more questions. So yeah, I'll leave those just in case you want to check them out.

Host (41:20):

Okay. So question number four, I think. How can I communicate I'm going through this to neurotypical people. In case you haven't listened to episode two, I highly recommend that you do that because it's essentially what I, what I talked about, how to communicate your needs and challenges to the people that live with you and your environment.

Host (41:53):

One of the ways that I describe in the episode is explaining things in a way that they can genuinely see that it's a challenge for you. For example, if you are experiencing Autistic burnout saying, and communicating to your environment, that you are tired is actually true. You are probably exhausted in a way that sleep doesn't make it go away. But that sentence "I'm tired" I feel like it truly, truly fails to describe everything that involves experiencing Autistic burnout. So, the more information you can provide them with examples of what you're going through, I think it's going to be better. It's also helpful to find out which things you can do when you are experiencing Autistic burnout. So, let's say that your partner, caregiver, roommate is expecting you to do the laundry, but because you are in burnout you can't really bring yourself to do it.

Host (43:00):

And this leads to arguments and so many, so many bad moments. So, when having these conversations about Autistic burnout, and, and all of these things that you're experiencing it can be very helpful to explain to them why is it that this task is so exhausting for you and provide them with an alternative tasks that you can do? Like, I don't know, for example, do the dishes, like, let's say that doing the laundry is just way too exhausting for you, but doing the dishes is okay. You just offer that instead. After explaining them that this is just incredibly hard for you to do right now, that way you are still being accommodated, but also you're not neglecting your responsibilities. So, yeah, it's, I think that it's it can be helpful too.

Host (43:58):

And fifth and last question, because I'm getting tired, if I'm being honest, I'm sorry, but I'm so tired. I'll try to answer any, any others on my Instagram account. So yeah, the last question that again, was super super asked is how to recognize your first signs of Autistic burnout. And there's one will depend on a hundred percent on you and your needs and your challenges. So there isn't really a list that you could resort to in other, in order to check if you are entering burnout territory or not, but... there's always a but. But there are a few things that you could be experiencing that may indicate that you're experiencing burnout. So ,some common for signs of Autistic burnout may include: more executive functioning challenges than usual, such as lack of attention and planning skills and organization, disrupted sleep or insomnia increased anxiety, lower than usual tolerance to negative sensory input, reduced ability to mask more sensitive to shutdowns and meltdowns. If you are a creative person you may also experience you don't have any motivation or creativity or inspiration left. That's usually a thing that I experienced. And you may feel, as I said before, like "more Autistic" than usual because you might be more again like sensory overload and more often and experiencing meltdowns and shutdowns more often, and it might be harder to access your ability to speak, if you regularly speak. You might find that your stimming has increased. And all of these things.

Host (46:09):

I'm a journal person. I have like five journals for different things that I use on a daily basis. And it can be very helpful to keep a journal on these things, like what, like how your burnouts look like and how your meltdowns look like and how your shutdowns look like so you can anticipate them in the future, or you can just be more aware of your triggers and stressors. Yeah. Yeah. I, I, I have one of those and I feel like it's been really helpful for me to be more aware of, of these things that happened to me.

Host (46:54):

Okay. I think I'm done. This one was a tough one. I started like preparing for this episode like a week ago and I just couldn't bring myself to do it, which is part of Autistic burnout as well. Anyway, I hope this was helpful in any way. And if not, I hope it was at least entertaining. Thank you so, so much for all your love and appreciation. If you'd like to support the show, please consider liking, following, leaving a review so others can see what they are getting into when listening to the podcast. And if it's accessible for you to do so, you can also support the show and my work in general, by subscribing to my Patreon, which is patreon.com/theautisticlife. And there, you can also have like a ton of more content that isn't anywhere else, which is pretty cool. And yeah, I, yeah, I'm really bad and finishing things, so yeah. Thank you for listening. And until we meet again, please stay safe.