10 Vital Burnout Recovery Strategies for Neurocomplex Minds
Toast with a Side of Nope! Timeline and tips to heal, rest, and rebuild sustainably when traditional advice doesn’t fit your brain.
Burnout Isn’t Failure—It’s Feedback
If you’re neurocomplex—whether autistic, ADHD, gifted, or highly sensitive—burnout may not feel like “just being tired.” It can feel like total system collapse.
You forget how to function. Tasks vanish from memory. Even joy feels far away. You might find yourself asking:
“Why can’t I bounce back?”
“Who was I before this—and will I ever get back to that version of myself?”
From my perspective as a therapist:
You’re not broken.
You’re not lazy.
You’re not weak.
You are responding appropriately to an environment that’s been asking you to overperform, override your needs, and abandon your nervous system for too long. Burnout, in this context, is not the end. It's your body telling the truth before your mind could name it.
Recovery is not a return—it’s a redesign.