I have been in autistic burnout for years, but I heard something recently that really began to resonate deeply. Something I felt was true in the core of my very being. I just never heard it put so succinctly before. What I was, and still am going through has never made sense—until now. The following quote is from Dr. Kojo Sarfo below.
This is SOOOOO true. We don’t recharge by typical rest or even by getting a good night’s sleep. We “recharge by being left alone long enough to allow our nervous system to reset.”
It isn’t because of a lack of sleep. It isn’t because of a bad day. We recharge by being left alone. We recharge by being left alone, long enough. To allow our nervous system to RESET because it’s out of whack. This is exactly what it feels like!
These few sentences gave me the permission to be left alone for good reason. I was feeling guilty, lonely, and left out. But I began to realize—that I NEEDED to be left alone in order to recharge, or reset. And to rest “Long enough.” However long that is. However long it takes.
Here’s something else that he said…
There’s that little word, “reset” again. There’s a definite biological reason for using this particular word reset. Dr. Kojo Sarfo uses this term repeatedly referring to something biological, and even at the metabolical level.
Being perpetually tired means that our nervous system literally can’t keep up with demands. Whether it be occupational, familial, financial, societal, emotional or social. Our energy stores are being depleted, consumed, and burned way faster than our body can restore it. And hence, it needs time for it to be restored.
We wouldn’t ask a person who just ran a marathon to play a full court basketball game 5 on 5 for an hour. Just like our muscles get sore after exercising (delayed onset muscle soreness) due to the metabolic demand placed upon them—such is life for the autistic brain. It needs time to recover properly.
I will share more on what it means to reset and the neurobiological reasons for fatigue and dysregulation in the coming days. Stay tuned!
neurospicybrains 