Burnout & Overwhelm

How do you know when you're starting to burn out vs. just having a hard week?

Posted by yuki_focus · 4 days ago · 34 replies · 825 views

I've been through ADHD burnout before. Full shutdown, couldn't function for months. That I recognized.

But now I'm in a period that might be early burnout, or might just be a hard couple of weeks. I can't tell.

What are your early warning signs? How do you differentiate 'normal hard' from 'warning, this is heading somewhere bad'?

4 replies

▲ 10

leila_rsd 4 days ago

I track a few simple indicators. Sleep quality, whether I'm masking more than usual, whether I feel anything when good things happen. When two or three of those are bad for more than two weeks, I take it seriously.

▲ 3

ravi_focus 4 days ago

I started doing weekly check-ins with myself — literally a short written answer to three questions every Sunday. Comparing week over week tells me if I'm in a trend rather than just having a bad day.

▲ 13

jamie_adhd 4 days ago

The emotional flatness is my clearest signal. Not sadness — flatness. When I stop caring about things I normally care about. Hard weeks feel awful. Burnout feels grey.

▲ 8

marcus_burnout 4 days ago

For me the signal is when the things that usually help stop working. When music doesn't regulate me, when my focus tricks don't work, when I can't get interested in my special interests. That's different from normal hard, which responds to support.

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How do you know when you're starting to burn out vs. just having a hard week?

4 replies

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