Autistic Burnout for 5+ Years: What Helped Me (Slightly)

10/2/2025
Omari

I've been in autistic burnout for at least 5 years. I'd argue it's probably much longer than that since I simply don't remember what old energy baseline used to be like.

I've been aware of how much it has impact my life in subtly ways that aren't immeditely obvious such as having immense difficulity masking to where I can't even put on a mask for anyone anymore, and forgetting nearly everything second later before or after I do it, and constantly tripping and having trouble orienting myself when walking around in the store or running outside which has led to me getting minor injuries on my feet and knee in some cases.

What I Tried First Which Helped Slightly

Headphones. Earplugs. Then as a brute-force effort to minimize noise sensory overload I was dealing with both.

Impact = Helped a little. My family was the primary source of my autistic burnout. Living in their house meant constant exposure to the exact environmental triggers that burned me out in the first place. No amount of noise cancellation or noise reduction earplugs (33 NRR to be precise) and even combining the two wasn't enough to drown out the compounding drains of the others (Unpredictability and expectations to "do more" = Show up on time for work, not to forget things, and help when nesscary without explanation)

I simply can't recover when the source of burnout keeps happening, and I've been in the same environment for most of my life and in some cases has even gotten worse so my ongoing burnout state is a clear reflection of that.

I tried intentionally turning my mask off and making a clear effort to barely reach out to family members or friends, only like once every few months. Even so, I was being very strict about this by default without even thinking about it since my brain simply couldn't handle anything else.

Impact = Negligible (Barely did anything). My family and neurotypicals in general especially at work from what I noticed always pushed socializing and "doing more". Some coworkers even noticed my approach to me doing it and constant asked if I was okay. Obviously, I'm doing fine from a mood standpoint, but energy wise I've been stretched thin for so long they likely noticed right away that me doing less instead of doing more seemed out of the norm to warrant some questions from me. (Mostly asking how I was feeling, but still exhausting nevertheless)

Typical neurotypical advice: "Just talk things through." "Do something that makes you happy."

The obvious problem majority of them don't understand? These problems keep recurring. They drain my energy. My special interests—drawing, animation—become more exhausting than fulfilling when I'm this drained.

"Do something fun" doesn't work when I have no energy left to enjoy it, thus feeling more like a chore than something that actually is regulating.

These help, but barely make a dent towards helping me feel better. A mere band aid on a wound that's still bleeding. Still in Burnout, many years later after buying and trying all of this stuff.

Where I'm At Now (Update as of March 2026)

Slightly better. But I have a long way to go toward recovery from autistic burnout.

I'm still being as aggressive as ever since if I don't take this seriously, I'm probably not going to fully recover or go fully back to the baseline I was before I was in burnout if I don't take every single sensory drain into account that's occuring in my life.

Still, recurring drains are still ongoing. Loud stomping and conversations at home. Noise-canceling headphones and a white noise machine help slightly, but just barely. Not enough to clearly improve my energy levels despite my mood being more or less the same.

What Tracking Showed Me

That despite being in burnout, I still noticed a tiny bit of capacity improving, which is why I've been rewriting and updating this posts with a lot more clarity and picking up on things I didn't noticed before. Despite all of the drains I experienced and still actively do, my efforts to reduce them has still gained me some of my energy back to do some things that I wanted to do, but still not on the level of learning drawing or animation like I still want to yet.

I've been tracking my energy, more specifically with my app, Spoons that I made specifically because of this. If I can notice my energy levels slowly improving, I could still very much be in burnout, but still have enough capacity to engage in a special interest on mine (Such as working on this website and this app!) to ideally be in a situation where I don't have to work around everything.

Recovery isn't linear. It's not fast either. (Sensory drains exist everywhere and eliminating every single one is next to impossible) A

It won't fix systemic problems. But it shows I can control and at least chip away at the drains I currently have to have even a slightly better chance of feeling better. Since burnout makes everything harder.

I'm Launching Spoons on April 2026. getspoons.app - One email when it's ready. No spam. Your more than welcome to check out my website, or even join my waitlist if your interested, if you have the energy. :)

— 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.

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