Navigating End of Year Burnout with ADHD
- Coach Mary
- Nov 14
- 6 min read
The end of the year tends to carry a familiar signal of holidays approaching, gatherings expected, travel excitements, and the long-anticipated breaks. It’s that short window when rest feels permissible and collectively understood… most of the time at least.
But for many adults with ADHD, myself included, this season can feel like the opposite.
The calendar fills with deadlines and expectations. The pressure to wrap up the year, to check off resolutions, to tie up loose ends — all of it rises to the surface while our brains are still running full speed from months of “keeping up.” By the time December arrives, rest can start to feel like another task on the list, something we try to earn or fit in between everything else.
Somewhere between the rush and the pressure, many of us begin to feel stretched thin, tired in ways that “just rest” doesn’t fix. Maybe you’ve been living like this for so long that it’s hard to notice anymore. I have so much compassion for you because I know how that feels and I carry the physical and emotional weight of a lifetime spent trying to “just push through” myself. That experience has a name, and it’s one we don’t talk about enough: burnout.
When we begin to understand burnout not as a reflection of weakness but as communication from the body, it opens a space for gentleness — a space where we can meet ourselves with honesty instead of judgment.
What is Burnout Trying to Tell Us?
Burnout isn’t a sign of personal failure or lack of character. It’s a signal that the body and mind have reached their limits, that emotional capacity is running low and energy reserves are depleted. In many ways, it’s a final warning, the body’s way of saying, something needs to change before I can keep going.
The World Health Organization describes burnout as a response to ongoing stress that exceeds what our systems can recover from. It often shows up as deep fatigue, emotional detachment, and/or difficulty feeling effective in daily life. At its core, it reflects a system that has been under sustained strain without enough true rest, support, or relief.
For many adults with ADHD, burnout doesn’t always arrive suddenly. It can creep in quietly, masked by productivity, urgency, or “just one more thing.” You might stay in motion for weeks or months, running on adrenaline and determination (or maybe even caffeine and Red Bull) until the body finally says no more.
This isn’t the body giving up. It’s the body speaking clearly, asking to be heard. Burnout is the nervous system’s way of saying that you have been carrying too much for too long. It isn’t meant to shame you. It’s an invitation to listen, care, and begin again gently.
Why Are ADHDers Especially Vulnerable to Burnout?
For ADHD brains, even the everyday parts of life can take extra energy. Each decision, task, transition, and piece of planning can feel demanding on top of a mind that’s already in motion.
Side note: as we understand now, ADHD isn’t a deficit of attention but an abundance of it, a “Ferrari brain” with “bicycle brakes,” as Dr. Ned Hallowell puts it.
When that system is already working hard just to keep life moving, the end of the year often adds another layer. There are projects to finish, gifts to plan (or make!), events to remember, and social or family expectations to navigate, all while trying to maintain routines that already take consistent energy to sustain.
Then there’s the emotional load. The pressure (internal and external) to keep up. The perfectionism that whispers, I should be able to do more. The guilt that appears when rest feels undeserved. Even positive excitement can light up the nervous system, creating bursts of adrenaline that eventually leave us feeling drained.
And finally, something often overlooked: sensory overwhelm. Lights, sounds, crowds, travel, fragrances (anyone else gag at vanilla scents?), and temperature changes — the holidays and year-end season can bring a storm of stimulation. For the more highly attuned sensory system, all of those inputs add up quickly, making recovery slower and the kind of rest that actually restores you even more essential.
How Burnout Might Show Up
Burnout doesn’t always look the way we expect. Sometimes it’s not dramatic at all. It’s the slow fading of energy, the fog that won’t lift, or the quiet pull to withdraw from things you usually care about.
It can show up in different ways — as mental fog and forgetfulness, as irritability or tearfulness that comes out of nowhere, or as a body that just feels heavy and tense no matter how much you rest. For some, it’s swinging between bursts of hyperfocus and stretches of shutdown.
For many adults with ADHD, excitement and stress can even feel similar in the body. Both can push energy beyond its edge before you realize it. One day you’re in motion, the next you’re completely spent — mind still racing, body already asking to stop.
If any of this feels familiar, you’re not broken. You’ve probably been trying very hard for a very long time. Noticing and building awareness is often the hardest part, but it’s also where real change begins. Because if we can’t see what we’re carrying, how can we begin to care for it? I always thank my clients for starting here — it takes courage to notice, and that noticing is what opens the door to kindness toward ourselves.
What Can Help (Beyond “Just Rest More”)
I’ve included below a few tried-and-true ideas to gently help you get started. These aren’t hard rules or prescriptions, but experiments you can try, adapt, and make your own. Each ADHD brain and body is different. What soothes one person might overstimulate another, and what helps today might shift next week (or even tomorrow).
The goal isn’t to get it “right,” but to notice what helps you feel a little more supported, a little more like yourself. What matters most is finding ways to listen to your body and care for your energy with kindness.
Soften expectations (“What feels possible right now?” or “What can I do that is kind for me now?”)
Keep simple anchors that already work
Create a sensory safety plan
Practice micro-restores
Reflect and realign
Bonus: Uncover your “gold”
You can explore each of these ideas in more detail, with prompts and gentle reflections, in the complimentary Notion guide linked below.
If You’re Already Burned Out
If you’re reading this and every word feels heavy, and if even being alive feels like too much — please know this: what you are experiencing is valid.
You’ve been carrying so much for so long. You’re more than tired, of course you’re exhausted. I see you, I hear you, and you are not alone. What you’re feeling makes complete sense. You have not failed, and this is not the end.
When everything in you is worn thin, it’s not weakness, it’s your system asking for gentleness after carrying too much for too long. Burnout doesn’t always look like collapse. Sometimes it looks like numbness, quiet survival, or a smile that hides how hard you’re trying just to stay afloat.
If that’s where you are, your task right now isn’t to recover quickly or rebuild routines. It’s simply to stay connected to life in the gentlest, kindest ways you can.
That might mean:
Taking a sip of water.
Feeling sunlight or air on your skin.
Letting yourself cry, or rest without guilt.
Whispering softly, “I’m still here.”
These are not small things. They are acts of life and of kindness you are offering to yourself.
Recovery from burnout, especially when layered with ADHD and sensory sensitivities, takes time. It begins with safety, not striving. It’s okay if you can’t imagine “thriving” right now. For now, surviving is enough. You are enough.
Gentle Closing Words
If this time of year feels heavy, that completely makes sense.
Your exhaustion is not weakness. It’s evidence of how deeply you’ve cared, tried, and shown up.
Burnout is not the end of your capacity. It’s an invitation to create space for renewal.
May this be the season you listen to your body with compassion, honour your limits with grace, and remember that enough really can be enough. 🪴
