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Reframing AuDHD Inertia as Self-Care, Healing and Growth
The deep inner wisdom in resisting the demands of modern life
This feeling that I call inertia is as irresistible as gravity and demands surrender. It invites me to let go and sink deeply into a wordless calm of homeostasis. It pulls me through the confusion of noise, colour and movement of everyday life towards an undeniable truth.
But also, inertia runs counter to the primacy of productivity and utility in modern capitalist society. And the internal push-pull of combined ADHD and autism makes this tension all the more acute.
It’s deeply frustrating to find that just as I’m exploring the depths of my potential after years held in a vice-like grip, something seems to be dragging me down. Those big changes I made to my life post-diagnosis that would enable me to focus on my strengths just aren’t bearing fruit. I’m indignant that after doing the work and arriving at a longed-for clearing that promised opportunity and abundance, I find only a vast expanse of nothingness.
I can’t help wonder if by replacing full-time employment with self-employment I’ve just created another prison for myself. That maybe I’ve just swapped oppressive workplace norms with my own internalised expectations. And that perhaps striving to prove myself without…
