Susan60

chestas, 23 hours ago to random

Ah, I remember when I lived in the UK the excitement of hearing the news that a General Election had been called.

To be replaced a few minutes later by the realisation that FPTP is still the voting system.

#ukpol #Democracy

Susan60, 2 days ago to random

Good morning everyone.

pathfinder, 2 days ago to Autism

@actuallyautistic

Burnout is a bitch. I think all of us who have experienced it, or are experiencing it, will agree with that. But, how it presents and how long it maintains its hold over us, seems to be as variable as so much else about us.

I can now recognise the many times I have experienced burnout in my life. Each one marked by my constant refrain of, "I'm just tired" and with me doggedly plodding on with my life as best I could. Even now, in the deepest and longest burnout of my life, I am still doing the same.

Of course, I at least know to try and pace myself now. To let the unimportant things slide until their time comes and to spread out what has to be done, to the best of my ability. I know to dedicate time to self-care, to rest and recreation and to acknowledging my needs as an autistic person. This much, realising you are autistic can teach you. It can also help you to spot the signs of burning out sooner and hopefully mitigate its effects that way.

When that's possible, of course. For what caused my current burnout was unfortunately a series of overlapping events that I could not avoid, or do anything about. It was almost as if life chose to keep throwing things at me, each more intense and impossible to avoid, until I broke. But then life can be like that sometimes.

Autistic burnout is, of course, different from normal burnout, in what causes it and how it presents. It is, more often than not, a breakdown of our ability to cope with the demands being placed on us and not with how much we can carry. We are used to carrying insane loads and with having to work so much harder than most other people, just to keep putting one foot in front of the other through life. In fact, I know that I never really rest, not even now. My life is one long and continuous assessment and checking on whether the routines I have in place are being maintained. Whether I have done everything, on what needs to be done and finding new ways to blames myself for why it hasn't been done yet. There is no such thing as not working as far as my brain is concerned. And because I never stop, I don't know how to stop. How to heed the signals of tiredness and exhaustion and how to not knuckle down and continue anyway. It has been the story of my life. In work and everywhere else, always push, push, push.

And perhaps this is why autistic burnout is so common and possibly even inevitable. The sheer effort that life already is. The constant raggedy edge we walk just to get through a day and how in doing this day after day, all we end up doing is teaching ourselves to ignore the warning signs and that our needs are even important. And end up learning instead, that all that really matters is the next plodding step, no matter the load we are already carrying.

#Autism
#ActuallyAutistic

timrichards, 2 days ago to melbourne

I took a photo yesterday of the IOOF Building as I was passing the corner of Elizabeth and Collins Streets. It opened in 1973 as the MLC building, and I believe it was the tallest building in Melbourne back then. I like the modernist curve.

#Melbourne #architecture

Mrfunkedude, 6 days ago to random

I turn 55 (😭) this Monday, meaning that this is now my BIRTHDAY WEEKEND!!!

So I expect all of you to double your efforts on cat and dog pics as well as fart jokes. (some of you have been slacking in that department.)

Let's go!

timrichards, 6 days ago to melbourne

Went up by tram to Coburg this morning, came back by train. Shiny station.

#Melbourne

LehtoriTuomo, 6 days ago to actuallyautistic

Yesterday I was wearing sunglasses when I went to the city centre as it was sunny. Oh my, what a difference it made to the sensory overdrive. As I mentioned earlier, I like to watch around but had finally noticed that I keep grounding myself by looking at ground due to all the visual input. Sunglasses took the edge off and it was way easier to look at things.

#ActuallyAutistic @actuallyautistic

arcana, 6 days ago to actuallyautistic

#ActuallyAutistic @actuallyautistic

it sucks having an unpopular opinion on the internet because i just assume everyone would hate me if they know

unpopular as in, if there's some kind of controversial topic with two sides, my opinion would draw ire from each of those sides

this is a common thing for me to experience because i'm autistic and i think about things differently than most other people, including other autists (we're obviously not a monolith!)

i think this is a very social-media problem, even on fedi where controversial content isn't pushed by an algorithm, because i think clout-chasing and virtue-signaling still influence overall community attitudes. unfortunately, due to various factors, social-media is one of the few options available for me to socialize at all right now

it gets very, very lonely to see people i might otherwise want to get to know clearly indicating that i need to mask up and pretend to agree, otherwise they'll bite my head off

at first it feels like it's not worth sharing those opinions and risking the drama-- and then it feels like it's not worth getting to know people in the first place

timrichards, 7 days ago to random

OK I just wrote the first draft of a 1200-word article, and it's 1500 words. Hmm. Time for a bit of slashing.

#AmWriting #AmEditing

Susan60, 8 days ago to actuallyautistic

I nearly didn’t listen to this episode, because I’ve never had an eating disorder, but it’s almost more about identity & addiction & autonomy than eating disorders, and is fascinating as a result.
@actuallyautistic #actuallyautistic

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/divergent-conversations/id1662009631?i=1000655158496

timrichards, 8 days ago to restaurants

The thing I like least about the recent wave of inflation is having to now forensically check every cafe/restaurant menu to decide whether I can afford to eat there. Never really had to do that before. But prices are soaring while my freelance income remains much the same.

#Inflation #restaurants #CostOfLiving

simonvarwell, 10 days ago to random Esperanto

I often dwell on how generations heading into middle age are in weird in-between times: while older generations’ experiences were mostly not digitised and today’s young folk are over-digitised, only some of my generation’s past is digitised. That leaves us in an existence where life is patchily recalled.

I’d never imagined there being equality dimensions to this, however. A fascinating article.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/13/tv-episode-black-britain-gay-history

samhkennedy, 11 days ago to random

How depressing that Labor is such a failure.
——————

Alan Kohler: The Future Gas Strategy will demolish Australia’s climate change project

https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/finance/2024/05/13/alan-kohler-future-gas-strategy-climate-change?ahe=3b7f60b3afbe7ecb406e8a85ac9a9231c9ce3f9fff39da49bb9a6a5e28459b8c&acid=3989409&utm_campaign=Morning%20News%20-%2020240513&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Adestra&lr_hash=48dd790e5329ca5c546782175c9e8925

Susan60, 11 days ago to ADHD

Reading… so good. Sciency, but historical too which is my thing. #actuallyautistic @actuallyautistic #adhd

lifewithtrees, 12 days ago to actuallyadhd

“What do you want to do 5 years from now?”

🤔

😬

🤯

I am having a difficult time visioning 5 years from now, what I want to do and then how to get there.

Some of this is due to the chaos of the last few years, but I also think it could be a challenge due to #AuDHD

Also I am 42 so midlife stuff?

That all said, how do you vision 5 years from now?

@actuallyadhd @actuallyautistic

Susan60, 28 days ago to actuallyautistic

What do people read?

I was an avid reader of fiction when I was a child. Novels about challenging issues or strange fantasy worlds. In many ways reading was an escape to a safe place, but those books were also places where I could learn about how “people” worked. How they thought, felt & behaved. The diversity in those things.

I loved The Little Princess and The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett, because they were about children who were different & how they coped. I loved The Chronicles of Narnia because, although quite dated now, the girls had real adventures alongside their brothers. There was a series of books about witches, good & bad, which I loved but can’t remember the titles or author.

I loved Ivan Southall’s books, where tweens & teens faced dangers, often without the support of adults. (Marsden’s Tomorrow when the War Began is reminiscent of Southall.)

And as an adult, I still like youth & YA fiction, probably for the same reason, because I’m still learning how humans work. I also like adult fiction, but the naivety of youth fiction appeals.

And TBO, I read much more non-fiction than fiction nowadays. Obviously there’s the Autism & ADHD stuff that is currently dominating my reading, but also social commentaries of all sorts, by feminists, sociologists, etc.

@actuallyautistic