ADHD Burnout Symptoms | How to Recover from ADHD Burnout | How to Avoid ADHD Burnout
The ADHD Burnout Cycle
I think of the ADHD burnout cycle as going from “So Much Yes” to “Hot Mess Express”
1. So Much Yes… You say “yes” too often because your people pleasing nature makes it hard to say “no”. Or you’re excited to try something new and different. So you dive in headfirst but before you know it, you’ve overcommitted.
2. Overcommitment… Then you throw all our energy into meeting this new goal or working on this new obligation. It’s possible we’ve underestimated the amount of time it will take us (thank you time blindness) or we’ve got too many projects going at once, which depletes all our dopamine.
3. Dopamine depletion… When dopamine depletion hits, our energy starts to wane and our executive function is pretty much non-existent. It’s harder than it usually is to get motivated, stay focused, and follow through. We’re unable to keep up or make progress. Pressure mounts. Stress increases. Negative thoughts, self depreciation, and guilt block progress and motivation. This means it’s all aboard the Hot Mess Express.
4. Hot Mess Express… The Hot Mess Express includes physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion. You no longer find joy in things that usually bring joy. You may withdraw or isolate from others to try to use everything you have left to try to finish. And then you shutdown…until you start saying “yes” again.
Burnout, as defined by the World Health Organization is “a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.” And I don’t know about you, but I don’t think burnout is exclusive to the workplace…especially for us moms.
Between the expectations placed on us as a human, as a parent, as a partner, as a worker…it’s no wonder we’re feeling pretty stressed most of the time. There are lots of supposed statistics about higher instances of burnout in the ADHD community but I couldn’t really confirm those statistics. Let’s just say, from my personal experience, it happens. A lot. Like a lot a lot.
But awareness and knowledge is power when it comes to combatting burnout as an ADHD mom or ADHD entrepreneur. Or just a person with ADHD. If you can learn what ADHD looks like for your body and mind and develop strategies to pull back before things get dire, you’re on your way to reducing the burnout cycle in your life.
If this sounds familiar, stick around because we are discussing the signs of ADHD burnout, how to overcome it if it does happen, and how to prevent it the next time.
ADHD Burnout Symptoms
So what does burnout look like?
How can you figure out if you just have a headache, feel a little down in the dumps, or had a bad night’s sleep versus being burned out?
I’m going to dive into some physical, mental, emotional, and performance symptoms but I want to emphasize that burnout is when you are experiencing many of these symptoms simultaneously.
It’s not just one or two things. It’s not for just a few days.
This is a slow build where you feel like work is getting harder, your emotions are feeling more on edge, and your productivity is suffering…all at the same time for an extended period of time until it feels like you can’t do anything at all. Dramatic, maybe a little. But as someone who has experienced this burnout cycle several times, it can feel pretty crushing. So here’s what it may look like…
ADHD Burnout Symptoms: Physical
You may experience headaches, intestinal issues, sleeplessness, tense muscles, clenched jaw, low energy and/or fatigue.
You may notice a change in eating habits.
You may feel like you are constantly getting sick or can’t seem to kick an illness.
ADHD Burnout Symptoms: Mental
You may experience decreased joy, a decreased sense of accomplishment.
You may have feelings that you are unable to keep up aka overwhelm, racing thoughts, trouble making decisions or decision fatigue, distractibility, difficulty focusing or concentrating.
You may also have regular, heightened emotional responses.
ADHD Burnout Symptoms: Emotional
You may feel stuck, trapped, depressed, anxious, or unmotivated.
You may experience a constant fear of failure, negativity, helplessness, or find you’re easily angered with hair trigger temper.
ADHD Burnout Symptoms: Performance
You may notice a decrease in completed tasks or increase time to complete a task.
You may quit more often or easily, accept not finishing, and procrastinate more frequently.
You may stop showing up all together.
If you find yourself performing in ways that are very un-you, that may very well be a sign of approaching burnout.
ADHD Burnout Recovery
It can take awhile to recover once you’ve hit the “hot mess express” phase of burnout. And if it’s truly burnout, it’s not something a spa day or week long vacation can fix.
So what can you do if you’re spiraling into ADHD burnout? You can try to…
Recognize your triggers. See if you can identify what is causing your stress. You cannot fix what you don’t acknowledge. Find places where you can subtract or reduce the stressors that are causing you to feel burnout.
Take a break. Make time for regular recovery periods and frequent breaks. If your cell phone won’t run when it’s out of battery, neither will you. No matter how hard you push yourself. In fact, pushing will often make things much worse.
Focus on your physical health. Get some movement. Try to get some sleep (nap, go to bed earlier, sleep in). Make sure you’re eating enough protein. Drink plenty of water.
Talk it out. Research shows social interaction can increase positive emotions. If there isn’t a friend or family member you can talk to, seek the help of a profession to help you through talk therapy. Or talk to all of the above.
ADHD Burnout Prevention
And to wrap up, here are some steps you can take if you are NOT in the thick of burnout currently and you want to set yourself up for success because you’re heading into a potentially stressful period or project. Here are some ways to help prevent ADHD burnout in the future:
Know your burnout triggers. Just like burnout recovery, a key to burnout prevention is knowing what cause your burnout in the past. Think about the circumstances surrounding burnout in the past and what you were doing (or not doing) during those times that may have contributed to your crash.
Manage your energy. You may have heard about the Spoon Theory for managing energy…essentially it says that you only have so many spoons each day and each activity will require some of those spoons. If you run out of spoons but still try to push yourself, you may hasten your drive into burnout.
Pick your “no’s” aka set boundaries. Choose where you say “no” so you can “yes” to the things that do bring you joy and that you want to do. It’s really important to protect your time, energy, and effort if the task or project you’re being asked to do isn’t something you have the bandwidth for.
Prioritize you to-do list. I realize that prioritizing is an executive function and that us ADHDers struggle with executive function BUT I’ve come up with a helpful little acronym to help you prioritize your tasks so you can focus on what truly moves the needle. I call it my TRIM method (stands for Time Sensitive, Required, Impactful, or Money Related) and you can learn more about it here. You can also grab my free downloadable TRIM Your To-Do List Flowchart by clicking here.
Take care of you every day. It doesn’t have to be massive tasks that will deplete your precious time, energy, and effort. Think low energy tasks that fill you cup… call/text your best friend, a gratitude practice, meditation, reading a book you love, move your body, watching a funny cat video, or make something.
If you’re still worried you’re working too hard, too much, or on the wrong thing, I’d love to help you figure things out. I meet each week with my ADHD coaching clients to discuss what they’d like to work on, prioritize the tasks they need to focus on, and schedule the time to do the work. Then I check in to see how they’re coming along and if they need any additional support.
If this sounds like the kind of executive function support and accountability you need to reach your goals as an ADHD mom and ADHD entrepreneur, I’d love to chat with you. Click the button below to schedule your free, no-obligation call with me.
