How do you guys deal with parenting? My wife had work events all weekend last week so I had to be on point 100% and then continue to all week. Now this weekend we had a girl scout hike and my wife wanted to go to a special event with me in the evening. I haven’t had time for any real solitude for two weeks and am mentally/emotionally drained.
How do you guys deal with this? I feel like a bad parent/partner for not being excited for these things or feelings negative about doing them. Am I expecting too much from myself? I don’t know, thanks for reading anyway.
You need to take the time to regulate. If you don’t then it just ends up in a meltdown at best, and a total shutdown at worst.
And I’m sure everyone would rather you just swerved a social event that deal with that. I know for me, at least, I’m utterly done mentally and emotionally for a couple of days after a shutdown.
I will hopefully assume your wife knows that you’re autistic and your needs. Just tell her that you’ve gone none-stop for two weeks and that you’re at critical point for regulation. If you can, might be worth taking sick leave from work.
That’s true, thank you. My wife said as much as well but I always pressure myself into things because I feel like they are important. I need to remember to take care of myself as well. Not easy.