i have just seen this post having only just joined the community. i am definitely in burnout at the moment and have been sleeping so much just recently due to the stresses of life, especially at this time of year. having a demanding job, i have been quite overwhelmed the last couple of months, and now, having a 2-week break, i am sleeping so much. not 24 hours but certainly 12 hour stretches have been quite common recently. the job, being a dad to 2 children, the stress of christmas and socialising etc...it all adds up and i found myself in a foetal position in bed with my hood up and ear plugs in at 2pm today because i couldn't cope with setting up my new phone. i needed it to be exactly like my old one as it has my life on it and it was just too hard. it sounds ridiculous, but this was a real trigger, probably brought on by stress and the exhaustion of constantly masking. i'm feeling really quite down at the moment and find my partner who is neurotypical just doesn't get it. i know i'll come out of this the other side, but being asd can be very isolating and exhausting sometimes hey.
Yeah I know how that feels…. You need to shut off from the world and recover like a little star fish growing their leg back (your brain is recovering from trauma) but your neurotypical partner and other people are forcing you to do the opposite of what you need to heal. It’s hard especially if you know you’re coming back to life and recovering slowly and they keep criticising you and keep criticising your progress because you’re not neurotypical and need a little longer.
Yeah I know how that feels…. You need to shut off from the world and recover like a little star fish growing their leg back (your brain is recovering from trauma) but your neurotypical partner and other people are forcing you to do the opposite of what you need to heal. It’s hard especially if you know you’re coming back to life and recovering slowly and they keep criticising you and keep criticising your progress because you’re not neurotypical and need a little longer.
I love the comparison with the star fish. It captures how I felt yesterday perfectly! I blocked out all sounds and was in complete blackness and I eventually unfurled from my foetus-like state once my body and senses were ready to face the day again :-)
I don't know about you, but with my family it's hard for them to understand and I get that, but it can be a real uphill battle and I find myself accepting their lack of understanding in order to resume the status quo. It's cyclical because at some point I'm inevitably going to have another burnout. I feel sad that they don't understand and I often end up withdrawing, sometimes mentally but often physically which I hate doing, but I have to. When two worlds collide! :-)
