Burnout / overwhelm

I've been dealing with another acute burnout since around the beginning of October. It got very bad by mid December but having a few weeks leave has done me a lot of good. On the mend but not all the way there yet.

But something has now happened twice in the last month that has shaken my confidence and frightened me a bit.

Both times I went into the office, which was mostly okay but is always taxing. On the drive home I became disorientated. Yesterday I was stopped at some temporary traffic lights and when they changed it was almost like I couldn't process what I was seeing. I could see every cone, every part of the road, etc but I just couldn't make any sense of it or where to drive. I had to pull over on to the pavement and give myself a shake. Basically the same thing happened before Christmas.

Does this sound like overwhelm or burnout or have I developed a whole new problem?

Parents Reply

  • I have certainly been highly strung for the last six weeks or so, so it could be a stress response.

    The fight or flight instinct involves a third descriptor called freeze, as is sometimes referred to as an autistic shutdown, which can be partial or complete, involving disassociations from one’s experiential awareness, one’s experiential sensibilities and one’s sense of consciousness.


    And possibly more anxious about driving after it happened the first time.

    Technically speaking, you are not fit to drive, and reasonable adjustments need to considered, with your doctor, post haste!

    Your safety is not my only concern here, but the safer you are ~ the better things will also be here. Green heart


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