Feeling drained

[Owliet]

I always notice that if I am in an environment that constantly requires interpersonal skills, the more drained I become once I’m away from it. I know that it’s also about having practice but perhaps I’m not having enough practice to stop me from feeling so drained because once the weekend hits and I revert back to social isolation to recuperate before going back into the fray again, I just feel so exhausted that I do nothing. This is not even a work related experience, it happens all the time — even going to the supermarket!
Anyway, does anyone else feel similar?

 

[Alexej]

I have a conversation with my daughter recently and after a while, talking about a heavy subject, I felt drained.
I was able to end that conversation saying that I could not cope with any more at the moment. This was new for me to recognsie how I was and be able to verbalise it

 

[Flown]

I always notice that if I am in an environment that constantly requires interpersonal skills, the more drained I become once I’m away from it. I know that it’s also about having practice but perhaps I’m not having enough practice to stop me from feeling so drained because once the weekend hits and I revert back to social isolation to recuperate before going back into the fray again, I just feel so exhausted that I do nothing. This is not even a work related experience, it happens all the time — even going to the supermarket!
Anyway, does anyone else feel similar?

Unfortunately, I experience this A LOT. I am the type that requires a week of recovery after seeing/socializing/visiting family members. I require a day or two of "doing nothing" after grocery trips (which often don't go so well for me). Social interactions (and public outings) are overstimulating and become emotional and physical drains.

I'm really lucky to have a partner who enjoys his silence and understands when I need my extra quiet time.

 

[Loren]

I experience the same, but, perhaps, to a lesser degree. I do need significant time on my own, in order to recharge. This can be the case, even after simply being in the presence of multiple people, for significant periods of time, without conversing at any length. It can, also, happen, from time to time, after engaging, here, on the forum.

 

[Streetwise]

I always notice that if I am in an environment that constantly requires interpersonal skills, the more drained I become once I’m away from it. I know that it’s also about having practice but perhaps I’m not having enough practice to stop me from feeling so drained because once the weekend hits and I revert back to social isolation to recuperate before going back into the fray again, I just feel so exhausted that I do nothing. This is not even a work related experience, it happens all the time — even going to the supermarket!
Anyway, does anyone else feel similar?

Yep its the adrenaline that's plummeted after spiking research adrenal fatigue try strong dose of vit b, so you remember you don't store vitamin b you lose it in urine

 

[Progster]

I've noticed it too. When the weekend comes, I have free time but I often feel drained of energy and so spend the day doing nothing.

 

[Gracey]

It is draining. Full stop.

I believe the trick isn't just to experience regular interaction, we need to practise regular maintenance alongside the interaction.
By that I mean as we go through the work day we create some 'time out' for ourselves to practise calming measures.
- get outside of the building on lunch break and switch off/ go for walk?
- find quiet space in building and practise breathing/visualisation technique for 5 mins at regular intervals. (even if it's in the washroom/toilet)

Whatever measures work for you to calm or counteract the building stresses throughout the workday.

There's also the evenings, after work.
Taking the time to take care of yourself each day after work (regular maintenance)
can go someway toward still feeling functional at the weekends.

 

[Owliet]

It sounds familiar, I had a job where I spent all day around a lot of people. That was a little exhausting but I did ok somehow. But when I came home in the afternoon or when the weekend started, I often did nothing. It was like I had a delayed reaction to all the stress at work. I often sat alone at home and did nothing. It became a problem, for a while I either worked or did nothing. That gets tiresome fast. Not sure how to fix it though, more practise I guess.

I also hyperfocus with work, after returning from it I don’t take time to reset and so end up doing the restart on the weekend. Thankfully, with support to manage this I’m trying to actually access resets after work each day. MY mum did a timetable and is around to make sure that I do this. However, despite all of this I’m still fighting this feeling of drained. It used to be pretty strong when I was younger, and even when I attended university. Now, because I don’t socialize much in my leisure hours, especially even less so because of the pandemic and most of those times were spent at cons where I was pretty grumpy by each day, I’ve gone out of practice and have taken on too much too soon. Tired of feeling like this. I’m becoming a master at avoiding additional social situations because I’m just too tired and the battery is drained to 1%.

It is draining. Full stop.

I believe the trick isn't just to experience regular interaction, we need to practise regular maintenance alongside the interaction.
By that I mean as we go through the work day we create some 'time out' for ourselves to practise calming measures.
- get outside of the building on lunch break and switch off/ go for walk?
- find quiet space in building and practise breathing/visualisation technique for 5 mins at regular intervals. (even if it's in the washroom/toilet)

Whatever measures work for you to calm or counteract the building stresses throughout the workday.

There's also the evenings, after work.
Taking the time to take care of yourself each day after work (regular maintenance)
can go someway toward still feeling functional at the weekends.

That’s very useful. Thank you for the advice.

 

[Owliet]

When I was in my mid-20s, I did something stupid. I went to work in the morning, came home in the afternoon and then just sat around and waited to go back to work again. I just focused everything on working. And I lived in an apartment the size of a closet so it was more like a waiting room, not much to do. I crashed after a while of course, it`s important to not focus everything on work and to reset.

I hope it gets better for you, be careful so you don`t wear yourself out completely. You should have some fun too That`s important, not just working and doing nothing. Good luck to you.

Yes, that’s what I have been doing, and now trying to implement a new routine is going on as a work in progress. I’m just so out of practice that I feel like every time I take steps to improve, I take more back. This constant yo yo is quite demoralizing at times.

 

[OkRad]

Depends on who it is and how you were brought up and what you feel normal is.

If I am around people who are what my normal feels like and they let me be my normal, then there's no mental or emotional gymnastics that has to happen.