I left a corporate job in Germany and walked into the mountains. I didn’t know it yet, but that first step changed everything.

Build in days off, build in long weekends, and build in weeks off without shame and guilt.

Honor your capacity. You’re not going to get out of it what you want if you’re trying to push so hard that you’re hurting yourself in the process.

#3GoodThings

1. Did 15,000 steps today!

2. Made a couple of wee project bags on the sewing machine.

3. Cleaned on top of the fridge and it wasn't too gross!

You can be looking like you’re doing a lot of things but getting actually very little useful stuff done.

You can also look like you’re not doing much, you’re just sort of sitting there, but you’re processing a lot internally or you’re resting, which is a productive thing to do.

There’s not one particular path that if you don’t do it, it’s not going to work. If you can do anything that helps you get up a little bit: that’s the best thing you can do.

Some relationships are worth letting go, and that might be a way to regain energy (thinking of toxic or abusive people specifically).

Autistic burnout recovery is, in its essence, about aligning our internal and our external realities.

Being uncomfortable and fighting that discomfort actively draws energy away from fully relaxing.

Schei** Woche gehabt. Heute noch Logopädie-Stunde, wo ich auch nicht wirklich weiterkomme. Und am Wochenende fahre ich mal zu meiner Mutter, um einen Brief meines Vaters an sie abzuholen, in dem er sich bitterlich über mich beschwert, dass ich in den 2 Wochen Urlaub, die er im Jahr mit uns gemacht hat, einfach nicht das perfekte Kind war, das er gerne gehabt hätte. Der perfekte Abschluss dieser Woche also. #depression #notjustsad #burnoutrecovery

It’s not enough to get some energy back so that you can continue the cognitive and physical dissonance for longer.

Back in bed with Callisto and BoJack. Still recovering from being away, which sucks. But I managed to walk Fester, and for a few hours I put on trousers and earrings! And at least I was able to go away, something burnout was making impossible a couple of years ago.

You can’t just go back to that version of yourself (the pre-burnout self, the one who had energy, and could do all of the things, and be a workaholic, or change the world, or whatever it was).

That version of yourself wasn’t living in a healthy way, it was ignoring your own needs.

I’ll admit that I still need a lot more rest than our capitalist and ableist ideals say that I should need, but I don’t really care anymore.

Don’t put too much effort into trying to prioritize “the best thing”, just pick anything that feels within your capacity.

Getting access to all of your internal information involves establishing trust with yourself.