I had been working really hard to plan my medical leave but whoops I couldn’t stop crying last night so I decided I probably shouldn’t go to work today so I guess it’s starting early.

I have been working with an Occupational Therapist to help plan accommodations for my return, but other than that…what do I do lol?

I would very much like to speed run 100% this thing and while I know it’s not possible I’m probably going to try anyways 🤷‍♀️

If you’ve been on leave for autistic burnout I’d love to hear:

  1. What did you do with your time off?
  2. How did you know you were better?
  3. What do you wish someone told you about it?

Appreciate any replies, thanks!

  • TerdFerguson@lemmy.world
    9·
    4 days ago

    I had the severe burn out that happens when you ignore the root cause and keep trying to push through it until you’re incapacitated by what can effectively be described as a brain injury.

    My burn out left me feeling concussed for months. I lost a lot in that condition and I was forced to take medical leave from work that eventually became permanent. Fortunately, I was able to recover and rebuild myself into a, mentally, much healthier person.

    1. Not a lot. I would lay in bed for half of the day, listening to the various aircraft fly over my home. I got to know their routines. I made the mistake of spending time online, and that delayed my recovery I’m sure of it. At the time… Reddit, Youtube, Netflix, gaming… all that stuff got in the way.

    2. I was only able to convince someone that I was well enough to start a new job after 5 months of trying to heal. To be honest, it was closer to a year before I was really actually functioning alright, but I was down to the last few hundred dollars of savings that I had left and had to work or would have lost my truck and home. In a way I think I’m still recovering several years later (in a good way), but I knew I was better once I felt like I wasn’t trapped by the same old problems that led me to burn out in the first place… and that came a while after I was ‘functional’ and capable of working again.

    3. Brain rest is what will heal you. Scrolling socials is not brain rest, its brain work consuming (mostly) garbage information. Watching shows or videos is not brain rest. Gaming is not brain rest. If you do these things, set very short and strict limits on it. If you can manage to not do them, that will help a lot. Brain rest is meditation. Brain rest is cleaning your home and keeping you hygiene up. Brain rest is reading a book. It’s a light hobby, like drawing or tending to plants. It’s writing in a journal by hand. Get exercise, it will speed up healing.

    Meditation, once you get the hang of it, is like bathing your brain in cool cucumber water. It is a skill you can learn to protect yourself from burnout in the future.

    • Arcanepotato@crazypeople.onlineOPEnglish
      3·
      4 days ago

      Thank you!

      I don’t think it will be too hard to limit screen time to much less than when I was working. I can’t even look at my home computer right now and while I am typing this on my phone, I have limited capacity to look at a screen. Good to know that is something I should try and keep up.

      I have a giant garden that needs a lot of work I’m hoping to spend tonnes of time out there tidying up once I can peel myself from the couch. I am also hoping to spend time with pottery.

      • TerdFerguson@lemmy.world
        1·
        4 days ago

        Those sound like healing activities :)

        I broke the phone habit in a couple of ways, if it helps you to hear:

        First was to stop using apps when a mobile format website existed. It makes it more inconvenient to use, which is what you want in this case, so you get annoyed and disengage.

        Second, you can use the content filter to custom block the sites like Lemmy that might be part of your habitual phone use that happens whn you’re bored. You want to use that boredom feeling as a signal to do one of the more productive activities instead. If you have iPhone, try turning the adult filter on then add a custom domain “crazypeople.online”

        Third is to decide on some time to power it off and put it away out of sight. No notifications or text messages to check if the phone is off. I’ve got a spot in the laundry room that I leave my phone powered down. I continued these practices after recovering, and tomorrow I will still power off my phone and put it away. You don’t want that thing’s psychological hooks pressing your buttons even once you’re healthy again.