ADHD Mental Fatigue is Real – 5 Ways to Recharge | The Vibe With Ky Podcast

Kyrus Keenan Westcott
What up, friends? Welcome to another episode of The Vibe With Ky Podcast. I’m getting my fidget spinner ready to go. Is this the one that I want? I have a couple to choose from here. I have one over there. I have one in my right hand, one on my left hand. I’m going to choose this one. This is in my right hand. It’s more of like a little spinny thingy. I’m going to choose this one because it’s quieter. This one right here, you’ll probably hear it. You can probably hear it now. You’re going to hear that if I.

have that in my hands. So I’m gonna go with the quiet, stealth action, stealth action ADHD little fidget toy here. What’s up friends, what up fibers, welcome to another episode of The Vibe With Ky Podcast, it’s your boy Ky. Today we’re diving into something that I know hits hard for many of us living with ADHD, I’m sorry, let me move the camera over so y’all can see me. There we go. I should’ve that beforehand, but alas I did not. well. Anyway.

We’re talking about something that’s very, it’s hard for a lot of us living with ADHD. Mental exhaustion. It’s exhausting to have ADHD, it really is. Like that’s why I’ll never understand when people are like, sometimes people online will be like, you’re faking it, Ky, you freaking, you don’t actually have ADHD. I’m like, I wish, I freaking wish I didn’t have ADHD sometimes. It’s exhausting. You know, like have you ever felt like…

You’ve been, you’ve been running on a treadmill all day, except instead of getting good exercise and it could work out your brain just won’t shut down. You know, like you’re, you’re overstimulated, you’re overworked and somehow you’re still behind on a million things. Do you know that feeling? Yeah, me too. Me too. Today I want to talk about how ADHD makes us work harder, not because we’re bad at what we do, but because our brains don’t function like a typical brain.

They just don’t. The mental energy that it takes for us to focus, to plan, to execute, even the simplest tasks are exhausting. And then by the time that we are able to slow down, we crash. We legit crash. So that’s what we’re gonna talk about today. I’m gonna share some of my personal experiences with this and how I can go from a full day of work into a full night of content creation and filming and recording.

And by bedtime, like I feel so drained that I just, I legit stare at the ceiling. I stare at the ceiling and I’m just like, I’m going to talk about how I, how I have to deal with that. And of course I’ll break down some, some actionable items that you can take with you today that can help you manage your ADHD burnout. Cause I don’t want this, this episode to just be me complaining. I’m looking for my chapstick. By the way, if you see me looking around, you’re witnessing my, Ed knows my lips were chapped and now all of a sudden I like to think about it as my chapstick. well I’m going to have to tough it through.

You just saw my ADHD in full effect just now. Anyway, I’m gonna give you some actionable items, things that you can do if this is something that you’re struggling with as well. But first, before we get into that, let me remind you, this is really important, so I want you to listen closely. I wanna remind you, I am not a mental health professional. I speak from my lived experiences, and I always encourage you to seek guidance from a professional if you can. All right, cool?

Cool, all right, let’s get into this. I just wanna make sure that that was clear. All right, so let me paint you a picture of a normal day for me. I wake up and boom, ADHD brain is already firing on all freaking cylinders. You know, I check my phone, I check my emails, I check my to-do list, check my social media, and then I realize I’ve checked everything except what I actually needed to do.

You know, I get through my work. I’m the brand manager at a firm. And I get through my day, my work day as a brand manager and this job, requires a lot. So I’m juggling a million different tasks from writing and event planning, strategizing, marketing, PR, managing podcasts, because my boss has his own podcast, managing that and other projects. It’s all go, go, go, go, go, go, go.

And if I get interrupted, yo, it is game over. It is game over because now my brain has to reload like a 90s dial-up internet connection. I hope people get that reference because a lot of us have to deal with that. Some people don’t understand that. We couldn’t be on the internet and use the phone at the same time. Do you see my cats on the corner? Excuse me, you know you’re not supposed to be on that, sir. Sir, you know you’re not supposed to be on that, no.

He’s not supposed to be on that table. He thinks that I can’t see him, but I can see him. I can see him in my screen. But he didn’t think that I could see him. He knows he’s not supposed to be on that.

Good Lord, this is what happens. so I go, I gotta work as a brand manager, right? And once my workday is done, I switch into content creator mode. I film videos, I edit, I engage with my audience. I record this podcast, I brainstorm new ideas. And by the time that that is all said and done, I look at the clock and I realize it’s fricking midnight. You know, it’s midnight. I should go to bed, but guess what? My brain just won’t let me.

It won’t let me because even though I’m mentally exhausted, I’m also wired. Like my brain refuses to power down, so I scroll, I overthink, and boom, next thing you know, it’s 2 a.m. And I’m wondering why I feel like a zombie every single morning. As I describe this, does this sound familiar to you?

This does this this episode for you because if you if you have ADHD you probably get it You probably get everything that I’m just talking about just now, right? Our brains work overtime just to keep up with our daily life We don’t get to just focus on command. We have to force it sometimes and that takes energy But here’s the kicker. Here’s the trigger while ADHD makes us mentally drained It also makes it really hard

to recognize when we’re burnt out. We push, we push, we push, we push until we hit a wall. So the question of the day is how do we stop this cycle, right? How do we stop it? We’re gonna talk about that. We’re gonna talk about why ADHD is so mentally exhausting first. Why does ADHD make us more mentally drained than the average person? I think there’s five reasons. Number one, we have to work harder to focus.

Right? Our brains crave stimulation. If something isn’t interesting, our focus drifts and we end up spending way more energy trying to force ourselves to pay attention. Number two, decision fatigue. That’s real. That’s a real thing. ADHD brains struggle with prioritization, which means that we’re constantly making tiny decisions all day long. And that in and of itself is exhausting. Number three, time blindness makes us work longer.

We think something will take 15 minutes, but suddenly three hours have just disappeared. Now we’re overworked and we don’t even realize it. Number four, we live in a constant, constant state of over-stimulation. Sounds, notifications, thoughts, ideas, it’s all happening at once, making it nearly impossible to fully relax. And number five, speaking of relaxation, we struggle to rest.

We struggle to relax. We really do. We really do. Even when we’re tired, our brains just won’t let us wind down. We either hyper-focus on something late into the night, or we feel restless because our thoughts won’t stop racing. This is why ADHD burnout isn’t just about feeling tired. It’s a deep mental exhaustion that builds up over time. So what can you do about it? I want to tell you the five things that I do.

And I hope this helps. Number one, I schedule intentional rest time. I work it into my calendar. ADHD brains, they don’t rest on their own. You have to force it. Block out time in your day to do nothing. Literally put do nothing on your to-do list. That’s what I do. I literally, I’ll either put do nothing or I’ll put unavailable, something like that, right? Number two, body doubling. This is one of my favorites.

I body double a lot. If you struggle to get through your tasks, try working alongside someone, whether in person or virtually, it keeps you accountable and prevents mental overload. I love the times when I’m able to, what I’ll do is I’ll sit on my computer here in New Jersey and I’ll have either my friend or my girlfriend or somebody virtually with me and they’re working on their stuff.

You know what saying? And it’s like this really cool way to keep each other accountable for the tasks that you have at hand. Number three, I set work cutoff times. I set alarms to remind me when to stop working. Otherwise, I’m just gonna keep going and going and going until I physically crash. So I set work cutoff times. I have to. I have one tonight.

Right now I’m recording this, it is 10.40 PM. My work cutoff time is 11.30. And 11.30 to 12 is me getting ready for bed and then bedtime, midnight. Number four, this is really hard. I try to reduce the digital overload at night. If I scroll on my phone before bed, I’m not gonna sleep. I’m not. So I try to swap it out for something else.

You know, sometimes I’ll swap it out for like a podcast or Maybe I’ll just like listen to music, you know something like that I just I just try not to scroll on social media before the end of the night Number five I check in with myself daily. I ask myself am I am I overwhelmed? Am I pushing myself too hard? I legitimately asked myself those questions because ADHD makes us ignore burnout signs so

it’s important for you to make it a habit to check in with your mental state. Now, before we wrap up today, I want to give you five things to remember, five things. Number one, ADHD makes daily tasks more mentally draining than they seem, right? Number two, decision fatigue, overstimulation, time blindness, they all contribute to burnout. Number three,

Recognizing burnout is really hard for ADHD brains, so we have to be proactive with it. And number four, small changes, things like body doubling or setting cutoff times, they can make a huge difference. Last but not least, number five, you are not alone. It’s okay to rest. It’s okay to ask for help. It’s okay to struggle. That’s fine.

I hear my cats chewing on something back there. have to turn around and make sure they’re not chewing on something they’re not supposed to. Listen, friends, if you’re struggling with ADHD burnout and you need some practical strategies to actually manage your day to day life, I got you. I got you. For those of you that don’t know already, my digital ADHD guidebook, it’s out and about. It’s for you to download and to get.

And if you’re more into audio books, I do have an audio book version of that guidebook. That is all available. All you have to do is click the link within the description of this podcast and you’ll get, you know, you’ll get the guidebook. It is packed with real actionable tips that help adults with ADHD thrive. Again, keep in mind, this just me, like this guidebook is me just telling my story and telling you the things that I work on and helping you understand what ADHD is. But at the end of the day, talking to a mental health professional is always going to be your best route. Always.

So make sure you grab your copy today. It’s only $5 for a limited time, $5. So get your copy today before it goes up in price. All right, I’m giving it to you for $5. It’s usually 20, 20. I’m giving it to you for five because I like you, I like you a lot. Friends, if you liked today’s episode, please let me know, comment, share, DM me on Instagram, @TheVibeWithKy. I’d love to hear what resonated with you. Like I love hearing from you. I love the DMs, the emails.

comments, like that kind of stuff is really really important to me. So make sure that you share that because I want to know that’s how I get better my friends, you know, I really do appreciate you.