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Disclaimer: I am not a mental or physical health professional. This post is not professional advice. I am just sharing based on my own experience.
What is your relationship with rest? Is it easy for you to give yourself breaks when you need them? Or do you struggle to allow yourself to rest?
What is Burnout?
Photo by Teona Swift: https://www.pexels.com/photo/cup-of-tea-on-table-near-book-and-plant-stem-6913375/
Learning how to rest and how to avoid burnout is important for everyone. So much so, that I just published a blog post called The 7 Different Types of Rest You Need to Avoid Burnout.
This blog post goes over everything you need to know about Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith’s theory of the 7 Types of Rest. If you feel like you are always tired, despite getting plenty of sleep, it might be that you aren’t getting the type of rest that you need.
Understanding how to rest properly and avoid burnout is especially important for everyone in the neurodivergent community. Overwhelm and burnout are, unfortunately, common experiences for neurodivergent individuals.
According to Harvard Health, “neurodiversity” refers to “the idea that people experience and interact with the world around them in many different ways.”
Neurodiversity is often used when discussing Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), as well as neurological or developmental conditions, including ADHD and dyslexia.
As a little backstory, I was recently diagnosed with ADHD (which explains a lot). So now, I am learning as much as possible about navigating life from a new perspective.
Photo by Mariam Antadze: https://www.pexels.com/photo/plaid-with-fruits-and-straw-hat-in-field-5913299/
Understanding how your brain works best is incredibly empowering, which is why I wanted to share this information about the importance of prioritizing rest and preventing burnout for neurodivergent individuals.
Read on to learn tips for how you can rest more effectively and prevent burnout.
Don’t Underestimate Mental Exhaustion and the Importance of Mental Rest
I completely understand how frustrating it is to feel tired all the time for seemingly no reason. Sometimes, I feel low energy, despite getting plenty of sleep. I didn’t understand why this was the case.
Learning about Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith’s theory of the 7 Types of Rest made me realize that I’m lacking mental rest. I didn’t fully understand how much energy my busy mind uses.
Do you relate to having constant mental chatter? And do you judge yourself for feeling tired when you “haven’t done anything?”
There is a good chance that you are also not getting enough mental rest. Mental exhaustion is very valid. Especially as a neurodivergent person, who uses up a lot of brain power on a daily basis.
This is why mental rest is so important.
What is Mental Rest? How do you Get Mental Rest as a Neurodivergent Person?
Mental rest means giving yourself a break from your thoughts. You can get mental rest by doing any activity that allows you to calm your mind and feel at peace.
There are many helpful ways you can quiet your mind, including:
⬦Meditation
⬦Painting
⬦Coloring
⬦Knitting
⬦Crocheting
⬦Mindfulness
⬦Journaling
⬦Listening to calming music
I know that meditation, crocheting, journaling, coloring, and calming music are all effective tools that help me to slow down my thoughts.
Read my first blog post about the 7 Different Types of Rest to learn more about mental rest and how you can get more mental rest.
And read this blog post to learn how journaling (a popular form of mental rest) can improve your mental health and tips for how you can journal more effectively. In this post, I also go over some different journaling methods you can use to achieve mental rest.
Personally, I find Brain Dump journaling helpful. This is where you write down anything and everything running through your mind as a stream of consciousness. This practice can feel very therapeutic and cathartic.
More Tips for Resting as a Neurodivergent Person
I love sharing when I discover creators and resources that you might find as helpful as I do!
I found Hayley Honeyman on YouTube, who creates content with useful tips for people with ADHD.
Hayley actually has a video going over the 7 Types of Rest from a neurodiverse point of view (but these tips are helpful for everyone, whether or not you identify as neurodivergent)!
Watch this video to learn even more about the 7 Types of Rest, from another angle.
This is a breakdown of Hayley’s suggestions, along with some of my own thoughts:
Schedule Your Rest
Hayley suggests that we schedule in our rest.
If you need social rest, schedule time with friends. If you need mental rest, schedule time for a journaling session.
I love this tip, as scheduling is one of my go to methods to make sure I get things done. Google Calendar and Notion are my favorite tools for planning and scheduling.
Use this link to sign up for Notion (a fun and aesthetic productivity and note-taking app).
I recognize that self-care is often the first thing pushed to the side when I get busy. If you resonate with that, make sure you schedule in some non-negotiable rest-time to prevent yourself from getting burnt out!
Be Intentional
If you constantly feel exhausted, it might be because you default to the wrong type of rest.
If spend all day in an overstimulating work environment, spending hours watching tv after work (i.e., more sensory input) might not actually re-energize you the way you expect it to.
Make it a practice to regularly check in with yourself and evaluate what type of rest you need at that moment. Reflection allows you to clearly identify the activities that make you feel rested and the activities that make you feel drained. Understanding this will help you effectively plan your self-care.
The more you practice these reflections, the more naturally you’ll be able to identify the restful activity you need.
Take Breaks
Do you allow yourself to rest throughout the day?
Make sure to periodically give yourself permission to step back and take a break. If you find it difficult to allow yourself to take breaks, please remember this:
Working nonstop is not productive and can have negative consequences, such as less accurate work and increased fatigue.
Taking breaks will help you with your mental clarity and sharpness and can help keep your energy levels up. I know that after taking a break, I am able to return to a project feeling more energized and focused.
Let Go of Guilt
Do you feel guilty when you rest?
Sadly, many of us feel guilty for resting, despite the fact that rest is essential for our mental and physical well-being.
In this video, Hayley describes a scenario I think many of us might find familiar.
When you try to rest, does your mind start racing with all of the things you think you “should” be doing?
Do you feel guilty for resting?
If so, this might explain why you never actually feel rested. Hayley points out that if you spend your rest time feeling guilty, you aren’t actually resting. As I mentioned above, rumination takes up a lot of mental energy.
I know it is easier said than done than to give yourself permission to rest without feeling guilty. But I hope reminding yourself of all of the positive benefits of rest, as well as incorporating some of the mental rest tips I mentioned helps you to quiet your thoughts and allow yourself to recharge.
Something I started doing is keeping a notebook and pen next to me while I work. I use this to jot down any thoughts or worries that come up. This allows me to process those thoughts and prevent rumination.
I also write down to-do list items as they pop up. This saves me some mental energy, because I don’t feel burdened by needing to remember everything later. I know I have the important information I need written down.
I encourage you to try keeping a notebook or piece of scratch paper with you throughout the day. See if being able to quickly jot down your thoughts helps you feel more clear-headed.
Set Boundaries
Hayley says that we can set boundaries by communicating the types of rest we need to our loved ones.
Healthy communication and boundary-setting can help you get some support as you learn to better understand what adequate rest looks like for you. This also helps the people in your life understand you better, which is important for any healthy relationship.
Start brainstorming how you can communicate your rest-needs with your loved ones.
Disconnect
Give yourself permission to step away from the pull of notifications, people, and tasks competing for your attention.
Creating some time to just exist with yourself in the moment, without outside noise, can help you quiet your mind and feel more at peace.
I already mentioned in my first post about rest that I like to put my devices on Do Not Disturb, which is a helpful way to disconnect. Recently, I also started putting my phone in a different room, or just out of eyesight, while focusing on certain tasks.
I will admit that this feels difficult. But it also feels freeing.
I’m not suggesting you disconnect from your responsibilities or turn off your notifications while waiting for an important call. But I do recommend making a point to disconnect from time-to-time, when it makes sense to.
Experiment
As with any self-improvement tool, you need to experiment to discover how to effectively apply the 7 Different Types of Rest to your life. This will look different for everyone. We are all unique and need different types and different amounts of rest.
What is one small step you can take today to allow yourself to rest?
If you haven’t already done so, make sure to read this blog post to learn everything you need to know about the 7 Different Types of Rest and how you can apply them to your life to avoid burnout.
And I hope you use the tips in today’s post to view the 7 Types of Rest from a neurodiverse perspective. Refer back to this post anytime you want a refresher on:
⬦The 7 Types of Rest
⬦The importance of mental rest
⬦Tips for resting and avoiding burnout as a neurodivergent person
I am realizing that learning how my brain functions is powerful information that allows me to set myself up for success. I hope the tips I shared help you in the same way!
Try at least one of these rest tips and leave a comment to let me know how it goes. Or let me know if you have your own tips that help you rest!
If you haven’t done so already,
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Featured Image: Photo by Mariam Antadze: https://www.pexels.com/photo/crop-woman-reading-book-on-grass-5981113/
Life by Julia 