I dislike when people say you’re in burnout and not accepting your levels have changed DUE to burnout.

It’s just my opinion. I’m aware I’m in burnout-but I’m also aware that I was in burnout before I had a hysterectomy and was thrown into menopause and just can’t function the same way.

A lot of people have described my inability to manage the same tasks-verbal communication, self care, sensory sensitivities, daily tasks; the way I once have, as a burnout. They then say I need to crawl out of burnout and things will get better. Yes. This is true! But what I’m also realizing is that levels do change over time. And once I’ve crawled back out of burnout (which will not happen for years at this point due to my environmental conditions) I will regain my abilities. It just feels dismissive to me? And this also puts me in a deeper hole, knowing the support I need may not fully pull me out any time soon, and that no matter how much rest I give myself and help I accept-I won’t have an immediate or quick recovery.

I don’t need to sit and sulk in the fact that I’m level “one” and in autistic burnout. I need to accept I’m now a level two with substantial support and find ways to accommodate that..in hopes that it one day changes. Otherwise, I’m going to run deeper into burnout trying to crawl my way out. Yes, we need to find ways to accommodate ourselves during burnout. But personally, I get trapt in thinking this is “temporary “ and to try harder to get back to the way I was. Because, again, I feel my life style that held up well for my whole life-had lead me to this deep burnout that has consequently brought me here.

I understand that menopause can cause a lot of challenges to our ability to manage sensory input. And hormones really play into our needs. I can accept that and respect that there was a large change. But I can’t accept that I struggle SO hard to communicate, and how often I go into a shutdown or have meltdowns when this wasn’t a thing-or atleast, as prominent as it is now. And to have people say, “you’re just in burnout” feels like a life of choices I’ve made to get me here. The levels can fluctuate over our lifespan. We can accept that burnout has pushed us to a level two, and we can accommodate ourselves in hopes to one day become a level one. Burnout feels like an excuse to the struggles we’re actually facing, and dismissive of the reality we are facing.