If you’re a woman with ADHD, it’s likely that you’ve experienced burnout at least once.
For many years, I’ve recognized in myself the “tendency” to burnout often. Each time I say that, i’m treating burnout as a personal failing: an internal weakness, a lack of resilience, or a personal flaw I had to manage better.
Then I started engaging with other mid-life neurodivergent women and I realized it wasn’t just me. That takes it out of the realm of personal failing or weakness.
Burnout is not a personal ‘tendency’ or a character trait; it is a predictable physiological response to a chronic mismatch between an environment and a nervous system.
Burnout occurs when values are misaligned, where individuals aren’t given the space, structure, and support they need to be constructive and generative, when actions are devoid of purpose and meaning.
Neurodivergent people are more likely to experience burnout — not because we’re “too sensitive,” but because we’re often forced to work within systems that are not designed for how our brains function best.
Working against our rhythms, masking, high context switching, and performative actions all contribute to burnout.
Framing burnout as an individual vulnerability places blame on a person who is trying to navigate a system at odds with their natural capacity and strength.
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