Create Your AuDHD Decompression Plan
By Michelle Labine, PhD
May 2025
If you live with AuDHD, your nervous system likely swings between hyperfocus and shutdown, perfectionism and paralysis, over functioning and emotional exhaustion. You may keep it together until your body cannot anymore.
A decompression plan is not a luxury. It is a form of self-rescue.
- Know Your Signals
What are your early signs that you are headed toward a crash?
Tight chest
Headaches or jaw clenching
Irritability or snappy responses
Avoiding messages or tasks
Increased scrolling or zoning out
Crying easily or feeling flat
Sensory overload
Feeling like everything is “too much”
My signals look like:
- Create a Nervous System Reset List
These are not rewards. They are essential maintenance for your brain and body. Choose things that bring sensory calm, emotional safety, or mental spaciousness.
Quiet lighting or a weighted blanket
White noise, ambient music, or nature sounds
Long bath or shower with no time limit
Low stakes reading or familiar shows
Gentle walk or stretching with no performance goals
Cancel something. Anything. Rest is productive.
What helps me reset:
- Reduce Input
Your brain is likely overstimulated. Reduce what is coming at you.
Turn off notifications
Put your phone on Do Not Disturb
Use earplugs or headphones
Close extra tabs or lights
Delay non urgent conversations
Boundaries I can set to reduce input:
- Reassure Yourself
Sometimes the crash comes with shame. Try to meet yourself with care rather than criticism.
It is okay to rest.
I do not need to earn recovery.
I have done enough.
I am allowed to take up space even when I am not producing.
The words I most need to hear are:
- Build in Recovery Windows
If you know a high output period is coming, plan the recovery time too. Treat it like part of the process, not an afterthought.
After big social events → plan solo time
After deadlines → no new commitments the next day
Weekly → block white space in your schedule
Monthly → schedule a nervous system day with no tasks
How I can protect my recovery time:
- Normalize the Cycle
You are a cyclical being. You can still be creative, committed, brilliant, and inconsistent.
That is your rhythm.