Why tuning into your neurodivergent nervous system can be the key we often miss.
So many of us are trying to manage:
exhaustion and burnout
anxiety that seems to come from nowhere
low mood or irritability
poor sleep
tension in relationships
…without realising that our bodies are often giving us information long before our minds catch up.
For many neurodivergent people, interoception, the sense that helps us notice internal body signals, doesn’t always work in a clear or predictable way.
That can mean we don’t notice we’re overwhelmed until we’ve already tipped into shutdown, anxiety, anger or collapse.
It’s not a lack of resilience.
It’s not a personal failing.
It’s how the nervous system is wired.
The good news is: this can be learned.
With practice, we can start to:
recognise early physical cues (tight chest, shallow breathing, heaviness, restlessness)
understand what those signals are trying to tell us
respond earlier, more kindly, and more effectively
Over time, people begin to learn the language of their own bodies.
And when that happens, something powerful shifts.
Energy becomes easier to manage.
Burnout becomes less frequent.
Sleep improves.
Emotions feel less overwhelming.
Relationships soften, because you’re no longer constantly pushing past your limits.
As a therapist specialising in neurodivergence (and as someone with lived experience) I see this again and again.
When we work with the nervous system rather than fighting it, life starts to feel less like survival and more like something we can design intentionally.
Not perfectly.
But more attuned.
More sustainable.
More you.
If this resonates, you’re not broken, you’re listening to the wrong signals, or you haven’t yet been taught how to hear them.
And that’s something that can change.
#adhd #autism #nervoussystem #anxiety #neurodivergent
