As an autistic person, our brains can constantly be in overdrive. It can be constantly brewing thoughts that can sometimes be negative and if they are allowed to spiral and obsess out of control. Having a healthy balance of when to entertain and rest your mind is key in living independently as an autistic person.
I have to have a conversation with myself that I am better than the childish self that my mind wants me to be.
As we near the end of the year and work our way to ringing in 2023 in a few days, a few weeks ago I have accepted the fact that doing what I need to do in order to protect myself is OK, acceptable and sometimes appreciated in order to maintain optimal wellness and protect others.
There's a time that I know that I am checked out.
There are times when I get stuck in The Loop that I fall into The Trap.
Today, for what I feel is one of the most genuine times ever, I recognized that I had my fill of irrational thoughts and negativity entering my head space. I also know that being in the environment that I was in that moment wasn't doing me any good, no matter how much I thought I… Continue reading Understanding Your Breaking Point
As this post is published on a holiday such as Labor Day (in the US), I would like to share a little more on how I have recently discovered that I recently met my terms with Autistic Burnout and that I accepted the need to better take care of myself.
One of the biggest challenges I have experienced in my life that I am still overcoming is my anxiety. It is a common comorbidity with autism and as such can produce many challenges in the daily lives of the autistic person, and as such I am no casualty in this regard.
A few weeks ago, I made the opportunity to do some of the things before things changed drastically in my life in 2020. It felt good in a way, but I do know that I need to continue to work on things and get back to where they should be from years ago,
Being an autistic adult and knowing that after you try something and realizing that you are not ready to make that change on a consistent basis is something that can be hard to digest. It makes you feel guilty because you are being selfish, but then seeing all the things that happened over the past few years and even in the past few weeks makes me realize that it is Ok to accept that everything doesn’t go exactly to plan or fall back into place.
Last week, being in almost a month of a near pre-pandemic workflow, I recognized that I needed to practice some self-care and take a “mental health day.” Many said how proud they were for me recognizing the need to do so, and as such I treated it as taking care of myself.
In my social media posts, I have been one often to stress the importance of self-care. However, I did not truly practice self-care to the fullest potential. Last week, I was able to take the day to put my worries aside and focus on taking care of myself for a change.
Over the past weeks when being out and about, I have had to learn that regardless what someone ha cause me or what I personally feel about them, I musnt treat them differently because of that, I have to remember that they are just a person as much as I am and it doesn’t cost anything for me to be nice to them.
As part of experience, a recent journey of self-discovery and acceptance has made me realize the fact that I can only have the physical and mental capability to only withstand so much. I have begun to accept the fact that at times we cannot do what we intend or want to do and while being independent comes with a sense of responsibility, we must learn to properly balance our lives in order to maintain optimum wellness both mentally and physically.
Last week was a different week for sure. My schedule was anything but what it normally was. While I can easily adapt, by the end of the week, I had realized how burnout I really was and the need to practice, by fault some much needed self-care. Self-Care is not selfish.
With the “new” normal that we are experiencing and the return to what we want to consider a norm by standards, I have somewhat forgotten what working is and the overwhelming demand that is placed on my work now that we are returning to what is considered pre-pandemic levels. It can exhaust me to the point that I don’t realize that it is essential to self-regulate because if not I will dwell myself in a sense of negativity and not want to resume my normal activity.
As an autistic, being independent has its perks. You can in many cases do what you want, make your place your own, set your own schedule. Now, granted, not all autistics can live independently, but for the ones who earn the keys to independence this is the moment they have been waiting for. But, sometimes can come periods of boredom and loneliness, which can lead into depression.
As we are hitting the point in of the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 Pandemic, those that have had a wide variety of changes from what is normal must realize the need for self-care.
I am sorry to again bring up something COVID related, however, I personally feel that it is important subject to bring up. As we are beginning to see a little bit of light in the tunnel of the Coronavirus Pandemic, we are just passing the tenth month of it. While I might consider a little bit of myself privileged to be able to go out, I personally know that many others cannot and that they are struggling far worse than I and the others that can leave their homes.
Dustin's Dynasty 