On Days I Have Very Little Energy, I Don't Hesitate To Cut Out Nearly Everything (Autism Energy Management)
When I'm really exhausted some days (Or operating on low energy), certain things disappear from my day entirely. Not reduced. Not half-done. Gone.
With my app's 1-10 energy slider context in mind: When I'm usually resting around 3 energy or less, this is the cut order that happens.
Cleaning Stops Completely
My bathroom and room go untouched. I won't do it at all. The mess builds for 7-14 days before I have enough energy units to actually start cleaning again. This is my most common timeframe—because the drains happen every single day.
At most if I want things clean, I'll simply grab a disinfecting wipe and wipe my sink, bathroom seat, and shower levers. Everything else such as a mirror I leave alone and not even bother cleaning it until my energy levels improve.
Friends Get Silence
I won't respond to friends for the rest of the day. Messages from 6-8 friends pile up, with them replying back and me not responding them for days. Usually 4-6 days gives me enough energy to reply. But explaining why I disappeared is exhausting—it pushes my baseline lower than before. So often times if I just leave and come back when I'm ready and explain them, and when I do it's brief and straight to the point.
Morning Hygiene Gets Cut in Half
I don't brush my teeth or wash my face in the morning. I shift it all to evening instead of twice a day. When my energy is this drained, nearly all everyday tasks become impossible to maintain so I cut off most of them and only leave the ones non-negotiable (Such as brushing teeth) intact. I'm not skipping hygiene because I don't care—I’m simply trying not to push myself into another meltdown or a even a period of shutdown to where I can't do much anyways.
Running Disappears
On low-energy days, running is exhausting before I even start. Especially the physical impacts it's had on my runs due to being in burnout for so long. Constantly navigating through traffic, reacting to loud noises, the sensory overload of being outside—I skip it entirely. Often 3-4 consecutive days at a time. Even if I wanted to run, my performance and pace targets would be so degraded that completing the workout would drain the last of my energy. So I don't start. Update March 2026: I also cut my pace targets out completely and turned off the vibration on my watch only for alarms. No exceptions there.
The Pattern
These aren't choices I make once. They're the same cuts, happening on the same kinds of days, over and over. Cleaning, friends, hygiene, running—in that order, every time. Whatever costs my energy the most and isn't required, it's gone.
The problem isn't one low energy day. It's not noticing the pattern until I've already lost a week of the things I actually want to do.
I built Spoons to catch these patterns earlier by tracking my energy and noticing patterns throughout the week especially leading up to the day where I handle the heaviest batches of my task for that one day each week, and generally being confident that I'm working around my energy limits, rather than constantly exceeding them with the false notion of being "productive".
Launching April 2026. getspoons.app - One email when it's ready. No spam.
— Omari
Note: I'm sharing my personal experience as an autistic adult, not medical advice. If you're experiencing severe burnout or crisis, please consult a healthcare provider familiar with autism.