Autumn, Overwhelm, and the Tired Neurodivergent Brain
There is a particular heaviness that can arrive with autumn. You wake and it is already there, a weight you seem to drag from room to room. The tasks that felt manageable in another part of the year (summer for some, but certainly not the heatwaves we had this year - which I think might make this autumn feel even heavier when it does get going) suddenly feel like wading through treacle.
If this is familiar, please know you are not alone in it, and you are not failing. For a neurodivergent nervous system already working hard to get through an ordinary day, and post the apocalyptic feeling summer we’ve just had, the extra demands of the darkening season can tip depletion into something that feels almost physical.
Thankfully, there are gentle ways to meet it.
This is depletion, not a character flaw
When everything feels heavy, it is tempting to reach for hard words about yourself. Lazy. Useless. Failing. But what you are feeling is far more likely to be genuine depletion.
A neurodivergent brain does more than most on the everyday business of living, taking in more sensory information, moving through transitions, holding focus, masking. ND brains work differently from neurotypical brains - brain regions work simultaneously that keep us locked into focus in different ways; we bring in more information at any given time due to the way the predictive network of the brain works. As an ND person, you are genuinely processing a lot more information in real time than an NT brain.
Add grief, or exam pressure, or a big life demand, and then layer the shorter days and colder mornings of autumn on top, and it is no wonder the tank runs dry.
This heaviness is your system telling you it is carrying more than it can easily hold. I recommend holding this for yourself as information, not a verdict on your worth. Heaviness is weather, not climate. It can feel permanent from the inside, but it is not.
Meeting the weight in the body
Because this heaviness lives in the body, the body is often the gentlest way in. Not to blast it away, which rarely works and can add a layer of failure, but to meet it kindly.
If you don’t have hypermobility, then warmth helps. A hot bath, a heavy blanket, a hot water bottle held against you. If you are hypermobile but still enjoy warmth, then use it on your extremities - feet and hands - so your vasodilation doesn’t send you into a dizzy spell.
Movement helps too, and this is where a neurodivergent body often knows exactly what it needs. A pace around the room, a sway, a stretch, dancing to repetitive beats, letting the body shift the stuck energy in the ways it uses instinctively.
Light helps as well, especially in autumn. Getting outside in the brightest part of the day, even under cloud, gives a tired body clock something to hold onto.
None of these are cures. And actually, you don’t need one - you’re not broken or sick. They are small kindnesses that make the weight a fraction more bearable, and on a heavy day, a fraction more bearable is a real and worthy thing. I like to call them scaffolding - they support your body and mind in kind ways to make the days a little more easeful.
Be very, very gentle
On the heaviest days, lower the bar all the way to the floor. Getting up counts. Eating something counts. A shower counts. You are not lazy for finding hard what others find easy right now. You are a person running on depleted reserves, and the kindest thing is not to add the weight of self criticism on top.
Try to find the things that fill your cup a little.
If you want to see a friend but meeting for coffee is too exhausting, choose a short, gentle walk in nature. Or arrange a video call or send texts instead
If a walk feels too much today, then sit outside and breathe, notice the nature around you, sit by water or under a tree
If the idea of a shower fills you with dread, then don’t shower. Maybe today is a day you only brush your teeth
If cleaning your whole lounge feels too overwhelming, then maybe just clear the coffee table, or dust one shelf
It’s okay to leave until another day, something that feels too exhausting today and to prioritise something that makes you feel a little cared for instead.
Meet yourself as you would meet a beloved friend who is worn out. Softly, patiently, and without a single word of blame. And trust that as your reserves refill, the weight will lift, because depletion, unlike the story it tells, does pass.
