Does Burnout Ever Completely Stop?

Great to hear this Roy.!!

I hope this feeling stays for a long time

Roy said:

I’m feeling much more positive,

Glad to hear this Roy.

All the very best to you and yours. 

Glad to hear that you're feeling better. Yes, the 'keep all the plates spinning' is very relatable, as is the strain caused by overthinking and overanalysing.

Thank you for your replies, I haven’t replied sooner as I have been having a complete break from everything. I have realised that I do need a complete change of direction. I’m still trying to lead a neurotypical life.

I’m in Cornwall for another week, work can wait, on my return I’m instructing an estate agent to start the sale of my workshop.

At the start of my autism journey I was quite elated to finally realise why I’m different, I think since then I’ve realised how hard it has been to try and ‘keep all the plates spinning’.  I obviously don’t speak for all autistic people, I’ve come to realise how much extra effort I have to put into everything, the world often sees us as not trying hard enough, in truth we are trying very hard and processing everything around us at a very high rate. 

I’ve found an adult autism group locally and will try it, when settled I’m also going to look for a good therapist, maybe someone in the local autism group will know of one.

My wife is now permanently in Cornwall and has gone off to her new job today,  I think that change has been worrying me.

Today I’m going to mow the grass and fit the broadband dish  cabling though to the outside of the cottage, I’ve had to buy a 1000mm long drill bit as the cottage walls are so thick, old properties certainly don’t surrender to modern technology easily.

 I’m feeling much more positive, the village still has apparently a very good doctors surgery, I’m going to enrol with them later today.

I’m sorry you’re feeling this wayRoy 

I can relate to the feeling of just existing and getting through each day. I suffer from mental fatigue too with my mind never switching off.

I know you’ve mentioned getting away from close family that’s a lot to deal with emotionally. I know I still think of my family every day trying to figure out why they treated me the way they did and then I try and ease the guilt I feel about not being in contact with them.

Moving so far away to a new place with a change in routine and structure is so much extra on top. Maybe the move is giving you the space you need to start to process what’s happened to you in your life.

You are dealing with major life changes, I don’t know if you have a therapist but thinking about how much mine is helping me it would be worth considering if finances allow.

I wish you well and hope things start to improve for you.

I know how you feel - I was in this stage at the end of my career for quite a long time and I found 2 thinks made a huge difference to me.

1 - I started to see a therapist who really understood autism and they taught me better coping mechanisms and how to evaluate the things that were dragging me down so I could decide if they were worth keeping in my life.

2 - I retired from a long career in IT and moved on to be my own boss working on property renovation. 

These things gave me the ability to cope better and shape my life to be what I wanted much more. I even chose to retire overseas back in 2022 so I have avoided a lot of the more recent financial stresses of living in the UK.

Now I work when I want, live in a place where the cost of living is cheap and the weather is good and have a great quality of life.

A good therapist is not cheap but is well worth the investment in my opinion.

In my experience, yes.

When I was totally exhausted from life’s events, I finally cane to acceptance and have given up fight that which I cannot beat.

Roy said:

Has anyone else dealt with any of this? 

Virtual hug.

Yes and I believe it was depression which I now take effective meds for although these days I again feel locked into a state of anxiety. 

You have had major changes in recent times so you may also be exhausted. 

It is hard sometimes to tell the wood from the trees.

No

Something happened in my life about 15 years ago (long before I was diagnosed ASD & ADHD-i). I've always suffered with"low mood" which was eventually declare to be treated resistant, which is fun (not).

When this thing happened, it just felt like my battery just went flat and wouldn't recharge. I don't know if it was burnout or a different stage in a depressive episode. The really bad part of it lasted for months and just didn't lift. Being the stubborn person I am, I just kept going as it was just something else to deal with. In hindsight that probably wasn't the best idea. To be honest, I don't think I ever really got away from it, I just got used to it.

Depression and burnout can manifest with very similar symptoms and can be triggered by similar life events. 

Burnout is supposed to improve if you take a break from those stressors in life and start being kind to yourself. If you go to the GP. They'll likely say it s depression and give you a prescription, or that has been my experience!

There's also a thing called anhedonia, which is basically when your brain gets stuck in a certain mode and you feel like something has just sucked the life out of you and it stays like that. 

Anyway take care of yourself.

That doesn't sound like burnout. It sounds more like depression, IMO. Of course, I'm not an expert in these things