People should prioritise self-care because it’s the foundation of a healthy life. Sometimes autistic people forget this when they are absorbed with other things or feel under pressure to meet other people’s expectations. Taking care of themselves will give themselves the energy and overall wellness to ‘function’, be productive and to care for other people.

When self-care is not prioritised, at some point, there will be consequences. This is an important concept to understand – you can only work so much and so hard. When you are not tending to your own health needs because you are focusing on all the other things going on in your life, it can, in the end, cause problems.

It’s normally much healthier to aim for balance! This means that you incorporate into your life plenty of things that make you feel calm and uplifted. As a consequence, this may mean reducing the number of other tasks you do. This is perfectly okay. It might take some time to adjust to a different, calmer way of living, but it is usually extremely worthwhile!

Try to see things differently. Reducing the number of things you do in your life might mean you are doing less, but doing less does not mean you are being less productive. Doing less can actually make you more productive in the things you do do because you can give more attention and energy to them. You are less anxious and more in control. Maybe you become a more focused person. You find you can really concentrate on tasks and can go about them in a calmer way.

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