posted August 07, 2024 05:14 PM
Hello Stawr! Long time since I have been on…It is nice to see a familiar face! I remember your ex was a common topic of hardship back when we would talk. I see you mentioned you have divorced and have started fresh.
If I have read correctly, you are staying back home with your folks and have started teaching at a new school.
Congratulations on taking the plunge to move past the stagnation of those Dynamics. I am sure it has come with new challenges.
As per your question about coping with sensory overload, I am by no means an expert but I may have some suggestions as per my experiences. Not only as a sensory sensitive individual myself but as a parent of a child on the spectrum.
I myself am a person in need of much reprieve . As much experience I have functioning in chaos, it does not change the fact that I am a person with a threshold that can only hold so much. We all have our limits. So sometimes I need to be compassionate to myself so I can function at my best and be present the rest of the time.
When it comes to socializing, I would consider myself an odd mixture of introvert and extrovert. I enjoy the company of others but in turn require time to recharge from the energy exchanges. Interpersonal relationships (familial) havebeen especially draining as there is a sense of emotional obligation and expectation not to mention drama when there is too much time spent together. This is not my experience generally with my husband and son..but i sometimes do feel drained as they both can be very demanding and high energy lol.Generally, the holidays and any group family vacations spent with extended family end in complete exhaustion. For many years now,I have literally scheduled the whole month of January to be as introverted as absolutely possible for my mental health and to recoup. I avoid any outside social obligations or outings and have noticed I tend to be better for it.
Noticing my personal tendencies and nurturing myself before hitting a breaking point helps. I noticed that communicating my needs and struggle with those i share close involvement with does help. This is something I have worked on with my son during his meltdowns and in retrospect found I needed to improve within myself.
We all tend to hold in these things. This build up of tension until we feel like we could burst at the seams. It is easy to forget just how much communication can help release this burden and that those we love are in many cases just not sure how to help us.
Perhaps your mom lurching over you at home is her way of expressing her concern and trying to support you by being there if you need her. I do not know your intricacies or dynamics. Perhaps she is sensing this tension..and the fact that you feel safe coming home after your divorce, she is overcompensating. She is probably relating with you by thinking you may be lonely and need to talk because she may perceive this as something she’d feel if she was in your shoes. If perhaps you explained that your job doesn’t allow you much time for yourself and this is a time in which you need to gather your thoughts and get in touch with yourself, she could understand.
On another note. I have used some techniques with my son and have found they can help everyone dealing with sensory overload. Because we are all sensory beings. This is especially noticeable post covid.
If you can isolate each sense. Taking in only one at a time, it will help ground your focus and prevent overwhelm.
For example:
Canceling out noise, tactile, vestibular movement, taste, and sight then using aromatherapy.
Or closing eyes when promoting stillness when trying to forcus. I see my son naturally do this as a means of self regulation. I believe this helps a lot when trying to find means to respond to a situation.
I believe many ways children on the spectrum cope naturally actually do help. It baffles me that so many try to therapize these coping mechanisms out of them for the simple sake of trying to appear normalized.
Things such as humming, rocking and stemming helps release that tentsion.
Neurologically, these pathways need to decompress to function. So allow yourself to decompress periodically.
Water and weightless ness is a tremendous relieve for many.
And I am intrigued by the notions of frequencies and the impact they have on the brain. I believe that many on the spectrum tend to function much differently than nt’s when it comes to this.
I have found myself dabbling with these concepts with singing bowls. Music and even the concept of using quartz crystals in regulating frequency.
Tesla had some interesting thoughts about quartz. The validity in its functional use in timepieces, to help regulate time ,has led me down some interesting paths on the subject.
Try this exercise.
take out a simple concept work sheet or with a partner .
Something very simple that you’ve long mastered.
Something like a math worksheet displaying 1+1=2 ect.
If you read them using your sight but try only responding using your inner voice. Then repeat and try responding only your hands (tactile) eliminating sound.
Then try closing your eyes and having someone read it out loud and responding using your voice.
Then repeat using only your hands.
Cycling through this exchange can help one integrate the senses more efficiently.
During so with a mastered task helps eliminate anxiety and performance stress.
This notion can be applied in many different ways. For people of all ages and all neurofunctions.
Sometimes the most productive way is not plowing through. Sometimes we need to slow down and focus on the individual task at that given moment. Allowing ourself to get back in touch with such skills we have long mastered but have seem to lost focus on.
I can’t help but think that transiting Saturn, Neptune and pluto all being very close to the end and start of cusps is certainly bringing this point our lives. The concepts of controlling and discipling our minds and concepts of functional life. In a large scale you can see a shift of consciousness in the making.
Lindaland
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posted June 30, 2024 02:32 PM
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