I am just home after a lovely weekend at my friends. I thought now would be a good time to do an update on how last week went and to look ahead at the week to come.
Last week went really well. I came into the week with good mometum and positivity fom the Christmass break. In December we learnt that long periods alone were really causing me issue.
Most days i was alone for up to 14 hours and the pressure was proving very difficult to manage. This was robbing me of momentum and contributing towards burn out. The pressure, fed the anxiety, which fed the pressue. Not good.
Since i have returned, i have not had any long days home alone. Instead, either someone has visited me, or i have gone to visit somewhere more comfortable.
This has made a huge difference. Last week was super productive and positive. I had some bad moments for the anxiety, but overall it was much better.
For three of the days, i visited the local Autism Hub in Romford. The visits are really good. I walk there and eat my lunch chatting to the staff, then hide in the sensory room for 20-30 minutes to recharge. I then walk home.
This breaks my day up and means i get a break from the pressure. Very helpful. While at the hub i can also help them with my technical and autism knowledge. Win Win!
Another change we made was to increase the number of hours of babysitting in the evening. The babysitter now arrives at 6pm. Its more expensive (£200+ a month more) but it makes a big difference. It means i have time to eat, bath and then have an hour of relaxation time before my friend visits for the night.
With the better momentum and much decreased anxiety i have found interactions with the babysitter much easier. I have been letting her in and on Tuesday i played lego in my room with the door open while she sat in the lounge and we both listened to cbeebies bedtime stories together. This is HUGE progress over a few months ago and a really positive sign for the future.
Next week is simlar to this week. We are going to keep the increased babysittering hours and i am also going to visit the hub the three days it is open.
On one of the other two day i am going to try a trip into the BBC office via Taxi. These trips are normally very overwhelming so it will be a good test for how my momentum is going.
Hopefully this arrangement will be sustainable. I would have found my "stable" amount of support and that will help with my speech and other challenges.
