• Replies 20 replies
  • Subscribers 87 subscribers
  • Views 863 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Meltdown just frustrated or just being dramatic?

andi

This could be silly for some but please be nice if I’m being dramatic fine but please don’t be mean I’m still figuring out how I feel a lot of the time and distinguishing different feelings. And this will probably be a long one so I can explain.
So I’ve a had a bad day to be honest. I was running late this morning, I woke up with my lip feeling like i had a ball kicked at it. Then couldn’t find my normal work trousers they were in the washer so they weren’t clean. So I had to wear skirt and tights. It was really raining outside but I couldn’t find my wellies so I had to go in my normal trainers. I got soaked and my umbrella was broken and my coat was dripping on to my skirt. Shoes socks tights and skirt drenched. Get to the crossing where my bus stop is bus sees me waiting to cross over I think great I’ve just made just as I get to the door he pulls away. Darn just missed it I’ll get the next one. Check the app it’s not coming neither is rhe next one… bus finally shows up. I get to work 5 minutes late. No big deal. Change my shoes put my heater on to dry my shoes and the rest of me. Go about my work day. Rather stressful. Blinked and it was home time and I felt like I had achieved nothing. Left work 30 minutes late. Get home 30 minutes later than normal. Go about my evening. I have an exam soon and I’ve been trying to revise as much as I can but finding it incredibly difficult and frustrating. So the event that triggered this question I was stuck on the same question for an hour trying the same equation getting different answers every time but none of the answers were correct I kept trying over and over and over until I snapped I lost it and essentially threw my things across the room and just lost control in a sense (I won’t go into detail). I started to calm down. I’ve had these little moments before and I’ve been fine after a little while but this one felt different. I had to remember to breathe and actually do it (not just on autopilot like physically had to make myself breathe I don’t know how to explain it) and my body felt so heavy and felt so tired all of a sudden. It was different and difficult. I think the frustration with the question was the final straw of the day. Anyway that’s my little rant I guess. 

Parents

  • I think you were suffering burnout rather than a meltdown as you retained a significant degree of control over yourself. Meltdowns tend to leave you in a much more dissociated state.

    There is something to be learned from looking back at the stressers for it however so I'll look at these:

    andi said:
    couldn’t find my normal work trousers they were in the washer so they weren’t clean.

    You failed to plan ahead and take care of the housework to make sure you had clothes to wear. Learning to be more systematic around this will make this go away.

    andi said:
    I couldn’t find my wellies so I had to go in my normal trainers.

    Misplacing footwear was the cause here - get into the habit of being more systematic in keeping things in their right place helps a lot.

    andi said:
    I have an exam soon and I’ve been trying to revise as much as I can but finding it incredibly difficult

    Creating a routine for this helps keep the frustration levels lower - schedule it for after you have eaten and reward yourself for completing the time with some TV time / glass of wine or whatever makes you feel good.

    When you hit a subject you struggle with then reach out to someone who can help. see if they can explain it in a way you can understand. Don't dwelll on the problem subjects but cover everything you do "get" and come back to the bits you don't get at the end.

    With all this you can start to see that by paying attention to small details you can remove a lot of the bigger stress from your life.

  • in reply to Iain
    Iain said:
    I think you were suffering burnout rather than a meltdown

    Burnout is less of an occasional event and more of a state of being, I would have thought. It's not something we'd be talking about in the past tense one day later.

    If we are burned out, we are probably more likely to suffer meltdowns, but they're still meltdowns not burnouts.

    Not everyone experiences meltdowns the same way or with the same level of intensity. Even the same person can experience meltdowns differently each time.

  • in reply to Damojo
    Damojo said:
    Not everyone experiences meltdowns the same way or with the same level of intensity.

    With some further reading it looks line burnout and meltdowns are on their own spectrum:

    https://embrace-autism.com/meltdowns-and-shutdowns/

    Defining where burnout ends and meltdowns begin is an imprecise science.

    I had thought meltdowns were when there was more of a loss of control but it looks like this is much more murky and it is nearly impossible to tell if you are having burnout and a tantrum related to this or if you are moving into meltdown.

Reply Children
No Data