Like the title says, I am burned out.
Im a 45 year old American male and I don’t even know if I have a formal diagnosis yet. I am currently working with my primary care provider and am seeing a therapist that claims she is a specialist in adult ADHD and it has been months.
I remember as a youngster that my mom took me to the doc for hyperactivity somewhere around 2nd or 3rd grade. Somewhere around 1985 or 1986. That doc said I had ADD but it was probably cause by a sensitivity to “red food dye”. “Don’t let him eat red food and he will be fine”.
It wasn’t fine.
A few years back i was diagnosed with GAD and Depression and was given medication for those which helped me for a short time with depression stuff but didn’t do anything for the root of the problem.
I moved across the country and started working with my current doc and he prescribed Wellbutrin for my depression and said it’s also prescribed for ADHD. It wasn’t doing anything for the depression and I’ve since stopped all meds and now am working with this therapist.
Therapy is going well enough dealing with trauma and those things. But we aren’t doing anything with my ADHD which is my biggest problem.
I can’t focus at work. Executive function is gone and has been for a long time. Every day for like over 2 years is complete task paralysis.
My wife and I use this analogy about spoons to discuss mental capacity for life. Everybody has a certain amount of spoons in their drawer. Tasks and thoughts use up spoons throughout the day. Once the drawer is empty, there’s no more to give until you was some dishes and replenish (nap or a nights sleep or something).
Well I’m out of fuckin spoons and every time I check the drawer there are fewer and fewer spoons to work with.
I really hope there is a path to something resembling “better” because I do t know how much more of this I can take”.
Burnout is super rough, and often something you’ll have to manage for a very long time, if not the rest of your life.
I was on the verge of burnout the other year, and a close friend of mine (who did burn out almost ten years ago and is still suffering from the repercussions) told me to stop everything and put myself and my burnout first.
“Managing your burnout is your full-time job now.”
I was lucky enough to be in a position where this was possible, and it’s helped.
Take care of your spoons, friend.
My buddy had that catastrophic burnout years back also. He keeps telling me “yours is coming, just wait”. He had a good financial cushion to fall back on when his happened. I don’t have that. If I lose my job I’ll be homeless in no time. I honestly don’t know what I’ll do if this gets any worse.
Aye, and the U.S. isn’t exactly known for its stellar workers rights or social support. I was lucky enough that I could change gears by leaving my job at the time and transition into a work-from-home environment.
I don’t have much wisdom to share I’m afraid. I’m really sorry you’re finding yourself in this situation, and I hope you manage to resolve it. Take care of yourself.
Burnout is a luxury that most people can’t afford.