Preventing Holiday Burnout
Advice for my fellow Autistic-ADHD-anxious-introverts
Story time
We live in a different province from the rest of our family, and have lived here for nearly 15 years. Over the years, we’ve travelled back to visit our family — covid restrictions notwithstanding — approximately three times each year.
Our son is nine years old, so a huge portion of that involved travelling with a baby, a toddler, and then a young child. My spouse and I both lived in Ontario for a significant portion of our lives, including College and University, so we both have friends and family there.
Our visits are whirlwinds. We fly there for about a week, visit as many people as we can, and then fly home. It’s bloody exhausting.
It used to be even worse, before I recognized what was happening to me on these trips. I remember once I was tired, cranky, and definitely overstimulated. I don’t remember what I was saying, but my husband snapped at me (which he very rarely does) and told me to stop complaining.
Ouch.
What was happening was, we were prioritizing our friends and family because we only see them a few times a year, but I had no conceptualization or understanding of my needs.
