Patreon members and YouTube channel members had access to this video on September 28, 2022. The video’s public release will be November, 23, 2022.

Transcript:

Hey, my name is Lyric Rivera. I am Autistic. I am ADHD, but I didn’t know I was Autistic or ADHD until I was an adult, when I was diagnosed Autistic at the age of 29. That ADHD wasn’t diagnosed until I was in my mid thirties.

I also do Facebook lives every week, on Wednesdays, at alternating times, and recently, in the Facebook Lives, this topic, of Autistic and NeuroDivergent energy regulation, keeps coming up.

This is something I’ve talked about a lot in short format videos and mentioned quickly in other videos, but it’s not something that I’ve dedicated the time to giving its own video to yet, and I think this is really important.

 If you would like to know more about why I say energy regulation is one of the biggest things that NeuroDivegent People, often, can struggle with, please do stay tuned.

Before we get started, I wanna explain what I mean about energy regulation, and why I say this is something a lot of NeuroDivergent People struggle with.

First off, there are various types of energy a person can feel, or experience, in one’s body.

There is emotional energy, when you get really excited, happy, angry, or scared, energy rises in your body… or if you are feeling down and depressed, you may have energy drained out of your body. Those are emotional energy fields.

There is also sensory energy. For example, when I feel sensory overload, my brain feels like electric static is erupting out of it, and I have way too much electric current flowing through my body, and I need to slow that pulsing energy field down to stop the sensory overload.

There’s emotional energy, and there’s sensory energy… as an Autistic ADHDer, there is also inertia, Autistic Inertia, or just the struggle to get energy moving, and slow energy down, once it is moving.

As an Autistic Person, with the Autistic Inertia, and as an ADHDer, I struggle to get myself going in the morning, struggle to get myself started, but then also struggling to stop myself, once I get going.

The transition from asleep to awake in the morning is very difficult. Then slowing myself down enough, cuz this freight train is going, and going, and going, slowing it down, once I get amped up… it’s hard for me to regulate that energy… how to get that energy going, and pull that energy back.

It’s not just the inertia, I struggle with lots of different kinds of energy.

The emotional energy, the sensory energy, the inertia, also, as an ADHDer, I feel like my attention is a kind of energy, that I struggle to regulate.

For example, I have attention; it is just like this really big, powerful laser beam, that is hard for me to focus, and point in given directions.

Sometimes my attention may go in on this one, really, big detail, and I have hyperfocus, lots and lots of attention… so much attention that the rest of the world no longer exists, because my attention is so intense, and so deep.

But it might be that I’m focusing on the wrong thing, and I’m ignoring something that I really should be paying attention to.

Once again, it’s struggling to regulate the attention, the energy of my attention, where my energy is going. The attention is where the energy is gonna be.

I even think my attention regulation is related to regulating my energy, for example, as an Autistic ADHDer, one of my biggest struggles is finding the tasks that are energizing, and the tasks that are draining, and balancing out those things in my life.

 I’ve also figured out that sometimes they’re draining tasks, that I have to get through, even when I don’t have the energy to do them; so I can use tools to help amp the energy, up or slow the energy down, depending on what I need.

If I’m struggling to get through my inbox and my emails, I can put on some music, or a documentary in the background, something that gives me some of that dopamine, that energy, gives me energy. Put that on to help me power me through something that is draining, and depleting my energy.

Being really, really creative, with using external tools to help me regulate these different kinds of energy, that I experience difficulties with… keeping in in the middle levels.

This is one of the reasons why I say stimming, as an Autistic or NeuroDivergent Person, is so incredibly important.

My stimming, especially the stuff that I do subconsciously, is a way that my body expressing that energy. Remember energy regulation? If I am stimming, because I’m excited, all of that energy is coming out of my hands, and it’s got- the energy has to go somewhere.

 Energy once created, has to be used up, so I’ve gotta use up that energy. Stimming is one way that I use up the emotional energy… or if I am having sensory discomfort, I may also stim to deal with that sensory discomfort, and the rise in too much sensory energy.

Just impulses firing off in my brain, too much -stimming is really good for that.

The other thing, that can be really helpful with energy regulation, for me, as a NeuroDivergent human, is sensory seeking.

Looking at things that are visually stimulating, listening to music that is calming or relaxing, or listening to music, that’ll amp me up and give me more energy, depending on how I’m feeling.

If I am sensory seeking, I’m needing something, and I am trying to fill a need.

If I am avoiding sensory situations, sensory aversion, because I’m avoiding something that is gonna give me too much, or the wrong kind of, bad sensory energy.

Stimming, sensory seeking, and sensory avoiding, all have very important functions for Autistic and NeuroDivergent People; and are some of the ways that, I personally, deal with the struggles that I have with energy regulation

There are other things people can do for regulating energy. As ADHDer, adhd medications can be key for some of us in regulating our energy. Some of us may self-medicate with coffee or other substances, to artificially raise our energy.

I, personally, have to be a little bit careful with coffee, because I have some other co current health conditions that too much caffeine can be bad for. Back when I used to not know any better, I would drink two pots of coffee a day, and wonder why I was having anxiety attacks and heart palpitations. It’s like, “The first pot of coffee was probably alright, but that second pot of coffee, was way too much!”

These are my thoughts on NeuroDivergent energy regulation.

I feel we talk about emotional dysregulation, and all of these kinds of dysregulation, that really boil down to having too much or too little of certain kinds of energies than we need to go about and do the tasks, that we wanna do in our days.

 I’d love to know: what do you do to help yourself stay regulated, and stay in sync?

Being dysregulated is a horrible feeling. Having too much energy in my body, and not enough energy in my brain. . I just feel like I’m gonna explode. I can’t even put it into words…. or having a brain, that has a lot of energy in it, and a body that has zero energy left. Same thing.

It’s like “I have so much electricity inside me. I feel like I’m gonna explode!”

If you know the feeling I’m talking about, please let me know, so that I know I’m not alone in this.

I have a feeling other people have experienced this too.

Thank you so much for hanging out with me this week.

I put out new videos each and every single Wednesday morning, at 7:00 AM Mountain Standard Time.

I hope to see you next week.

Be sure to subscribe, follow, and turn on the notifications, so you don’t miss a video when that is distributed… because the way social media works, who knows if social media will let you know it happens. If you don’t get a notification, check back. I’m constantly putting out new videos.

Thanks to everyone who comments, shares their own experience, especially, everyone who shares these videos. Thanks. Sharing is caring. I couldn’t do this without you.

Of course, I do wanna say thanks to those of you who subscribe on Patreon, YouTube channel members, Twitter super followers, facebook supporters… also someone asked recently for my Venmo information, I didn’t have Venmo, but I have Venmo now. It’s NeuroDivergentRebel on Venmo.

Thanks for everyone who does that monetary support. You are helping to pay for things like the Transcriptioning software for these videos, the close captioning software, I use on my phone, the website hosting, where I host these accessible versions of the videos with transcripts, because Facebook is not always accessible, the technology with which the blog is filmed on.

All of that would not be possible without the help and support of the viewers like you, so I always wanna say thanks, because, literally, You make this blog possible, this vlog -blog, whatever it’s called, you make it possible. I couldn’t do it without you. I always wanna share my gratitude.

Thank you all so much, each and every single one of you, I will see you next Wednesday.

I send my love.

Bye, y’all!

Help me get the word out!!! – If you like what I do, and would like more, please consider subscribing on Patreon. This blog is made possible by support from readers like YOU!  (Sharing my content is also, equally helpful!)

Support on Facebook or Subscribe on Patreon to get access to more unreleased videos NOW. (At the time I am scheduling this post, May 11, 2022, I have videos scheduled through most of July already). Subscription is “pay what you can” starting at $1 a month (less if you subscribe annually).

I would love to have you. 

-Lyric

Also, per recent reader request, I now have Venmo (username – NeuroDivergent Rebel)

I also have PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/NeurodivergentRebel