The Sensory Treasure Box
I was talking to my therapist about how frustrating it is when I want to do something that I know will be energizing, but I don’t do it because I don’t have the energy to start the thing.
Basically, I need activation energy to begin many of the tasks involved in my special interests or re-energizing tactics (and I need extra activation energy for tasks that I’m not interested in or which stress me out). On good days, everything is fine and I can get started without too much whining to myself. But on bad days, which happen a lot more than I’d like them to, I’ll whine to myself and just avoid doing anything at all. This is normal, because when we humans feel like we have limited energy, we try to conserve energy by doing as little as possible.
However, that isn’t particularly productive, and for those of us on the autism spectrum, too many low-energy do-nothing days has a negative impact on our mental health and our ability to maintain a job.
Side note: this lack of productivity and seeming lack of interest in doing things which we do in fact enjoy if we get the activation energy to start the tasks, is a major reason people on the autism spectrum are often misdiagnosed with depression. Obviously, it’s possible to have both, but the low energy of autism and the low energy of depression look the same to external observers.
