Published on 12, July, 2020
Shutdowns are part of life. There are multiple root causes for a shutdown, including the result of sensory overload, physical and mental exhaustion, unexpected news, anxiety about an upcoming event, and upheaval in our schedule. Sometimes it comes in combination; other times it comes down to simply being “on” for so long, that we have no choice but to turn “off.”
Are you always aware that you are about to go into "shutdown"?
What strategies to you use to help recover from them?
How do you "resurface"
How do you describe what they are to others and try to manage their occurrence?
I'm new to these forums but already learning a lot. I was aware of "meltdowns", which I experience whenever I have to spend more than an hour or two in other people's company. (It's probably no more pleasant for the other people than it is for me.) Googling "shutdown" suggests that it's my usual state, and has been so since early childhood, i.e. for fifty years. Living alone in a detached house, I have the pleasure of not being required to "recover" from my "shutdowns". When I feel ready to "resurface" from them, I go out and weed my front garden and comment on the weather to passers-by. After an hour or two of this, I go back indoors and "shut down" again.
Every autistic man or woman should be given a detached house to live in in their natural "shutdown" state, from which they can emerge to chat to passers-by if and only if they're in the mood for it.
Apologies if this is too radical.
I think maybe the idea of a secure detached house would be so many people's dream, autistic or not, but that kind of alone/do it on your own terms space is very far from most people's reality sadly. Is there any part of you that wishes you could 'join in' more, or are you completely at peace like this?
Not radical at all..
i tend to manage my days like that too....i hover around at home getting things done and if I need to go out or interact with others it can be a struggle of will to find the best part of the day to do that and then also planning closed self time afterwards so I can compose myself and recover.