@newtsoda Hey look, it me.

@newtsoda this is why I tend to take breaks in between fulltime jobs :(

@newtsoda

I live in France and I'm lucky enough to work in the educative system: I work full time 3 days a week, and I have holidays for 2 weeks every 7 weeks, plus summer holidays for about 2 months, so it helps a lot to not have a burnout

@newtsoda Thank you, my partner hit burnout recently this way and scared herself, I've been sending over everything I've found on this at her request, I'm adding this to the set

@newtsoda I have never been not burned out, it seems.

@newtsoda Thanks for this. I find this sort of thing helpful in understanding autistic friends

@newtsoda Thank you for this! I often need to see/read these reminders living in a household where i’m the only one not on the spectrum and wanting to understand as much as possible.

@newtsoda... That's quite how I feel right now oops

@newtsoda I hear accommodations thrown around a lot but I wonder what some of these would be?
Of course, two neurodivergent people associated with the same label will have different needs. But all the examples I first come up with are things that maybe I can do, a tool to try, a system, & so on, to demonstrate that I don’t need to be a draw. I kinda struggle to make an ask of others, because why would they bother? Instead I hit a plateau and just fry while trying pull myself out.

@newtsoda I'd much rather never deal with autistic burnout ever again, but knowing that's likely improbable, I'm glad I understand myself better and maybe can work on mitigating enough of the big things that lead to burnout to have the spoons to deal with the small things when they reveal themselves in the quiet.

@newtsoda wow. Very informative. I am beginning to understand that a lot of the things people called me crazy for are actually me being on the spectrum. Thanks for sharing.

@newtsoda I have a burnout just thinking about the full-time job. At 37 I'm still recovering after years of everyday schooling and dealing with mental health issues. I was diagnosed at 35.

@newtsoda Thanks for that! It's really on point. And nice to see you on Mastodon :ablobcathappypaws:

@newtsoda Ah.

This would certainly explain certain situations I've had in the past with people yeah.... :ms_pleading: :pawy1_pright: :pawy1_pleft:

@newtsoda That's interesting
Sounds kinda like what I'm going through except I regulate emotions too well. Also don't think I ever got the hang of masking. (I do not know of a way to either mask or unmask, and my ASD seems to be very visible) And the cause for me may be more trauma.

@newtsoda @snowyfox I feel this so much. Currently taking a break again between jobs party because of this. I feel like I literally can’t survive another burnout

@newtsoda I've never had a job longer than 2 years, and that was 5 years ago. Lately it's been 3-6 months...retail and customer service jobs are all I can get, but they're killing me.

Hi @newtsoda, thanks so much for creating this comic. I relate 100%! I've never worked a fulltime paid job, despite sometimes working from home 50-60 hrs/week, and burnout is a big reason why. Do you mind if I copy and share it around our autistic community? For entirely non-commercial purposes of course. I think it would really help a lot of our people to understand and have compassion for their own struggles, as it did for me, and help the NT people around us to understand us better too.

@newtsoda First home office (where I could control the environment): 1981. Most of my career has been what we now call "gig work". Longest time spent in a single gig: 3 years.

@newtsoda these kinda make me wonder if there is a relationship between autism and being an empath. 🤔

@newtsoda this is me. So much exhaustion, so much "this is just too much for me" within the last - oh well at least 35 years. Can hardly remember not being mentally tired.

@newtsoda as neurotypical colleagues, can we help in any way ?

@newtsoda

I've never been diagnosed as #ActuallyAutistic but do wonder if I'm not on the spectrum.

Like very ordered, set routine, suffer high sensitivity to noise, and find #anxiety a great problem. Have had to resign from my job due to #burnout.

A lot of problems with mickey-taking at school.

@newtsoda So-called working world must deliver on the promise of inclusion. Under the right conditions, most people will be able to work!

@newtsoda uuuuh. fuck.

this is 100% me (I'm undiagnosed but 99.9% sure I have it)

@newtsoda
Experienced that too!
Do you have a source for those 20%?

@newtsoda ... well, that certain explains the periods I've always believed where depression. (I now have half a diagnosis and will be moving into an official one once things starting to get reasonable. It took me almost 40 years)

@newtsoda im always switching jobs, settling down is way too much for me. hoping i can find something downtown thats low demand like a library or something. it's been really rough lately being full time security at a huge mall

@newtsoda I never even came close to burnout in my engineering job. But then, it was close to how I might choose to spend my free time.

@newtsoda I can relate to that so much. Nobody ever seems to understand 😞

@newtsoda thank you, a friend of mine is home now for almost 2 years I think. She's been working for years and didn't even know she's autistic until she was unable to leave home and had to get help.

@newtsoda I managed to make it until 38. Covid hit, I was already ridiculously burned out, so I walked away. I'm a part time delivery person right now, though I'm hoping to find something better for me soon.

Unfortunately, pushing my mind & body beyond its limits for over 20 years without a single vacation has led to a variety of disabilities. Odds are, I'll end up on disability instead of back at work, especially if my surgeon doesn't grow some balls soon. 😡

@newtsoda thank you for making this 💜

@newtsoda my son is autistic and I’ve never been diagnosed but I’ve considered getting screened for it. I’ve never had a job longer than 2 yrs (or lived in the same place longer than 2) and now I travel for work as a contractor so that I don’t have to be in the same job more than a few months

@newtsoda Never in 1 workplace for more than 5 years, time-out for kids & uni, part time (in 3 different workplaces) for last 9 years including a 2 year pandemic hiatus . Another thing that helps confirm diagnosis.

@newtsoda Increased sensitivity, anxiety, mood swings... This explains way too much. 😿😿😿

@Fuchskind gesehen?

@newtsoda we are forced to participate in a world designed by others for others to suppress the very idea of us and the way we think. It’s exhausting.

@newtsoda This certainly explains a lot about how my last job affected me.

@newtsoda

@newtsoda I've never had a long-term job, just one-off acting opportunities, but I know what it's like to go through autistic burnout! 😓

@newtsoda I wanna thank you so much for this comic. It describes my current situation so perfectly, and I know I'm not just a broken weirdo. While I'm not diagnosed autistic, I did send this to my team lead so he knows what's going on with me being all broken at work.

@newtsoda

A lot of folks doing these studies and posting these papers and being certain of their findings...

They don't ask.

There's a great deal of investment in saying 'okay, these are the problems', and then practically zero in 'how would *you* like them to be fixed?' Supposed solutions are forced, instead of discussed, because they work perfectly well for otherwise 'normal' people experiencing these things. And then they don't work.

Just _asking_ might give a better path forward.

@newtsoda great comic. Im employed but this definitely describes how i felt about formal education and why i didnt go to college

@newtsoda I'm not autistic, but I empathize a lot with this. There have been many times when all I wanted was to take a break from working for a few months. Modern life can be exhausting at times. The 40 hour work week is insane and unsustainable (at least without neglecting something important in your life).

@newtsoda where does that 2% statistic come from?

Bein adult diagnosed and working for myself, so not really employed, it is an interesting one.

The last panel in the second image (trying to remain "normal") for an entire work day was always the greatest challenge for me, it resonates quite a bit with me.

@newtsoda I needed to learn about this term today, thank you! ;o; I received my diagnosis earlier this year and this is absolutely something I've been struggling with but didn't have the words to properly convey the feelings.

@newtsoda this is so much. I'm autistic and I am thriving in my 5 hours a day part time job as a tech assistant in an elementary school, as apposed to the job I left in January which was an office job.

The sad part is of course that's not full time which means no health insurance...

@newtsoda yeah...

all this...

we've been burned out basically our entire life and we need to get a job, the only option is full-time, and I have no idea how we're going to handle that.

college was hell.

@newtsoda

Hey, it's me! 😭

@newtsoda Frighteningly relatable lol. 😞

@newtsoda magic. Thank you.

@newtsoda and sometimes you burn hard enough to never recover your precedent cognition and energy again.

Took me 1,5 year of nothing to recover from the last one, and I'm still way more fragile than before, my attention who used to be good enough is all over the place, I don't think I will ever recover completly (I'm not even 30).

@newtsoda Oh yeah... I know that feeling...