Okay, so I'm on leave from work due to burnout. It's week 4. I learned I was AuDHD last year. I have a watch which measures "body battery". It's a little vague but relates to stress.

Yesterday I sat on the couch in silence, scrolling and playing mobile games from about 8:00 am until about 15:45 when I got up to do some gardening. I did eat lunch and breakfast and used the bathroom so I did move a bit.

My watch gave me a message saying I had a good rest period (which is the +22 at the bottom there).

I've been making a conscious effort to not push myself to do anything. I'm taking care of bare minimum things and trying to make time for some enjoyment too, because that's the advice I received. I'm hoping the need to sit and do very little is a temporary thing. I don't like being idle. I don't like that my partner is picking up more slack than normal. I like the satisfaction of completing tasks.

I thought Sunday was a good day too, but my watch said very differently (and so did my body as I was very worn out mentally and physically on Monday). I sat on the couch with my coffee for a few hours then went out and did some gardening (from approx 10:00-17:00, then sat for about an hour and then did pottery from 18:00-20:30. Here is what my watch said about my day:

I spent most of the day outside doing light activities 😭The gardening I was doing was not physically strenuous. Again, I'm purposely being low stakes, easy peasy. I have a stool and a bucket and I sit on my stool and do weeding, putting the weeds in the bucket which I periodically walk over to the compost.

My heart rate is shown below. It looks like pottery was the stressor lol. One additional factor is I think I might have missed my vvyanse dose that day.

I don't want to be a non compliant patient and refuse to rest, so I'm telling myself it's only temporary. However, I am worried that I need to slow down permanently to remain healthy and I hate that.

Part of what I am using this time for is to see if I can learn to hear my body cues better without all the pressures of work. Yesterday I felt like I had overdone it on Sunday even though Sunday didn't feel tiring. Maybe that's a win?

Another thing I wanted to do is to get back into an exercise routine and worry that this is in conflict with rest. Perhaps I should hold off on that a bit. I know my nervous system has been in overdrive for years at this point and that resting from that is different from resting from physical exertion, and that I have been encouraged to exercise so maybe it's not actually in conflict? My body feels fucking awful (stiff af).

The good news is that my resting heart rate is lowering again (I'm so ashamed by my lack of aerobic exercise 🙈)

Has anyone here (specifically people with autism and/or ADHD) managed to figure out rest? Got any wisdom you can give me? Bonus question if you are late diagnosed and had to change your life around. What did it look like?

The blooms aren't very dense but they are very pretty and fragrant.

I weeded for 7 hours yesterday lol. Still have many more hours ahead of me.

Some of the weeding involved removing the excess strawberry plants we have. Many of them are wild. We allow them to grow unhindered in many parts of the yard, but they are controlled in the enclosed garden area because I want to walk freely in there. I got my one (1) perfect strawberry of the year before the rest of the inhabitants go crazy on them 😅 (I am not asking for advice)

Spouse put some Cucurbits in containers this year and they are doing well! They can trellis on the fence of the enclosure. There are some in the raised beds too. We will have some zucchini shortly.

A single climbing bean can come up 😭. I planted many of these along the trellis and I see them laying on the soil with bite marks lol. I will toss more out today. Some of the peas sprouted too. It's way too late for them but I figured I would try anyways.

I cleaned up under our tamarac tree where the blueberry lives. She need some nitrogen, which I will supply with alfalfa meal.

We have a loganberry plant that is out of control in terms of how long the main runner is, but I also found what looks like a totally separate plant established by the blue berry. I guess this means it's fruiting and someone is eating the fruit lol.

Officials of some Central Alberta communities have issued water supply advisories Sunday afternoon after heavy rainfall pushed local wastewater systems to capacity.

Goldenrod behind, sweet grass to the right, and black-eyed Susans at bottom right.

And burdock 🙄

This is a wild variety (not a cultivar) so it doesn't belong in the gardening comm lol

Nothing says a relaxing day at the (shady as fuck) spa like being right next to a runway 🫠

(yoinked from a reddit post)

Can't have the poors ruining the view while you wait in line for brunch!

ETA: link from QR code

lol

This thread on reddit (hiss, I know...) really makes me miss the anonymity of big city living:

I want a spot where I can roll in looking like garbage, keep my hood up, tap my card, grab a massive takeout container of hearty soup, and walk out without making eye contact or enduring friendly small talk.

One of the replies:

I got you. Salad Days. It’s in the almost abandoned food court under the old Bay at Yonge and Bloor. No one is in there. Their lentil soup is fucking incredible and it’s cheap for a huge bowl. Comes with pita bread. Eat it with the other food court creatures and rot.

Literally heaven ✨

On the other hand I've been sitting high as fuck on a stool in my garden slowly weeding for 5 hours and that's pretty good too.

I guess my question is specific to the british royal family.

I saw a post online that said "God save the King" and had a photo of the king. The idea of a monarch or reverence for any other type of leader simply because they are the leader is outside of my experience.

I'm not here to disagree or argue, please don't feel like you need to justify or convince me. I can accept that people value different things.

I would like to understand the appeal the monarchy or even specifically King Charles has for people who respect and support the monarchy.

Enjoy them while they last 🤩

First poppy blooms are hiding out in the lupine 🌸

Jk it's not a swamp it's my house i'm in a hammock chair high as heck and it's pretty nifty

Ya girl has been less functional than normal but I hobbled together this extremely semi homemade soup. The task was tolerable and it sure beats the crackers I was subsiding on. It was also cheaper and much tastier than packaged vegan meals and way more existent that frozen gluten free vegan meals.

Did you know you could buy frozen grilled veggies? It's truly the future.

I microwaved the edamame and frozen veg in a bit of water, added the rice (which was in the fridge from a previous rice cooker run) microwaved again and then added some boiling water, bullion and tom yum paste.

Fantastico!