I'm autistic, and I recently had a bout with burnout, really the first since I realized that I am autistic.<p>This time, it was three weeks of struggling before I realized I was burnt out, and after some minor adjustment I got through it just fine.<p>The trick is <i>knowing</i> that you're burnt out. One of the big features of autism is being unaware of or unable to interpret your own internal state. That makes it way, way too easy to slide all the way down the slippery slope of burnout until you're in such a bad place mentally and physically that there's no longer a way out. In previous jobs, this turned into a deep seething resentment for my workplace and either quitting or getting fired spectacularly. Last time it happened to me I ended up lashing out at everyone and everything around me. I lost my job, my friends, my boyfriend, and my house. I had to start a new life in a different city.<p>Being autistic and being unaware that you're autistic is actual hell. You know you're different, but you don't know why or how. You don't know that you have different needs from your peers, so you try to get by with what everyone else is doing, and it usually doesn't work. Endless frustration and self-doubt. You just can't <i>do</i> what everyone else seems to be able to do easily, it's like taking a test on a subject you've never heard of and everyone but you is given a textbook to work from.<p>One of the hardest and most important things is to be aware of yourself and your mind. It does things on its own and you're along for the ride most of the time, but you can steer it if you know how. Problem is you <i>don't</i> know how, and you don't know that you even <i>can</i>.