Sensory Overload Strategy

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Sensory Overload Strategy

As a neurodivergent person
And whose neurodivergence has evolved across my life due to various factors
I have to spend a lifetime trying to understand my responses to senses 
For example did you know I hate socks. If I could get away with it I would never wear another closed shoe in my life. I also hate the feeling of not having showered - I think we all hate that feeling - but it irks me on a level it has taken me years to understand. There are loads of things I don’t like. Bright artificial lighting. Absence of fresh air or windows. Closed windows unless it’s really cold. We all have our quirks. I have to try to understand the ones that are unbearable for me. Especially because of the whole seizure situation

I am learning and learning that they will not go away and I simply just have to learn to manage them.

That is not to say that they’re not getting better cos they are. And the baseline for what I have to deal with is getting better. Look last night I went for a walk in the rain and my bright pink Nikes were getting wet (the only closed shoe worth wearing). So I got a taxi home - well Liverpool was very very rainy and very very wet. I said at the end to the uber driver - as he looked at my shoes - “they are beautiful and worth protecting.” That is like me too. I am beautiful and worth protecting

I am beautiful and worth protecting

Whatever that means. 

Setting boundaries 

Protecting myself from sensory inputs 

Calming myself down

Forcing myself to stop when I am tired. Doing less because it means avoiding seizures. Taking myself home sooner because it means avoiding seizures

Whatever it takes. I love myself and I am worth taking care of. I love myself and I am SO worth taking care of. While I hope the risk of seizures will improve as it has been dramatically recently. I have to protect myself from the risk for now. When I dance I listen to my body and I seldom if ever get seizures after dance. I have to listen to my body in life as I do on the dance floor

If it be your will

If it be your will, that a voice be true, from this broken hill, I will sing to you
A photo of Susanna

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