UnburdenedSelf™

Autistic burnout is an intense, chronic state of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion. 

Typically caused by prolonged masking, sensory overload, social demands, and the constant struggle to navigate a world that isn’t built for neurodivergent minds. 

For someone diagnosed late, (like me at 53 along with ADHD), after a lifetime of battling depression—it can feel like finally having a clearer idea of where you’re meant to be headed, but still being too drained to follow it.

The exhaustion isn’t just about being tired; it’s a deep, suffocating fog that steals focus, energy, and the ability to engage with creative passions. 

Ideas that once burned brightly in your mind become unreachable, tangled in frustration as concentration slips through your fingers. 

You know what you want to create, but your brain won’t cooperate. Projects stall, and the gap between vision and execution feels insurmountable.

Worse, the frustration compounds the burnout—each failed attempt reinforces self-doubt, feeding the cycle of exhaustion. 

It’s not laziness or lack of skill; it’s the crushing weight of a mind pushed past its limits for too long. 

Recovery isn’t just about rest; it’s about unlearning harmful expectations, reducing demands, and allowing yourself the space to rebuild, at your own pace, in a way that actually works for you.

Better said than done, and something that is thus far utterly eluding me.