Kara has no shortage of bright ideas. She wants to see the world, learn new languages, pick up 5 different hobbies ranging from pickleball to knitting, and write a novel.
But sometimes she delays writing an email or cleaning her apartment.
How can a person with so many goals struggle with tasks that are seemingly simple in comparison?
As a person with ADHD, you might relate to Kara’s story. You’re likely an extremely ambitious person with no shortage of dreams and goals, but you struggle with executing most of them. An idea you were once so passionate about quickly loses steam, making you question whether you’re capable of getting anything done at all or whether you’ll be able to live up to your full potential.
As a therapist in training who works predominantly with individuals who have ADHD, I’ve worked with clients who describe this exact experience: the “brain on fire” stage where ideas and drive come fast and furious, followed by a complete energy crash. As one person put it, “When I see opportunities from different interests I happen to have—career, hobby, social, travel—my brain goes haywire trying to figure out how I can get involved. My brain just keeps going and going and going with ideas and drive.” Until suddenly, it doesn’t.
This cycle often leads to something specific: ADHD burnout.
How ADHD burnout differs from other types of burnout
ADHD burnout occurs when the chronic stress of managing a condition like ADHD leads to emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion, creating a widening gulf between your ambition and your energy levels. Eventually, you no longer have the energy to do anything, even if the task in question is basic.
While burnout and ADHD burnout have overlapping symptoms, the latter has several distinct characteristics that set it apart, according the the Attention Deficit Disorder Association, including:
— Executive functioning collapse: While typical burnout mainly involves emotional exhaustion and reduced work performance, ADHD burnout often involves a more dramatic breakdown of executive functions. Things like decision-making, time management, and task initiation become nearly impossible, even for simple daily activities like showering or making food.
— Sensory Overwhelm: People with ADHD burnout frequently experience heightened sensory sensitivity. Normal sounds, lights, textures, or even conversations can feel physically painful or overwhelming.
— Compensatory Strategies Fail: Many people with ADHD develop elaborate systems and coping strategies to manage their symptoms. During ADHD burnout, these strategies suddenly stop working, which can feel particularly destabilizing since the person loses their usual scaffolding.
— Longer Recovery Time: ADHD burnout tends to require more extensive recovery periods than typical burnout. A weekend off or even a week’s vacation often isn’t enough. The nervous system needs substantial time to regulate again, sometimes weeks or months.
— Masking Exhaustion: ADHD burnout often stems from the cognitive and emotional labor of masking symptoms, constantly working to appear neurotypical.
— Dopamine Depletion: There’s often a profound loss of interest or ability to find joy in previously motivating activities. The dopamine system seems to become depleted, making it hard to feel motivated by anything, even hobbies or passions.
As you can see, it’s not a lack of discipline or will that’s holding you back from achieving the big life you want to live. Often it’s burnout related to trying to function within systems and spaces that zap all your energy because they weren’t designed for how your brain works.
But those ideas you have for your life are no accident. You’ve dreamed them up because you’re capable of achieving them, even if not all at once. If you feel like you’re at a crossroads, trying desperately to transition your goals from your mind into actuality, understanding ADHD burnout is the first step toward managing it and turning some of those lofty goals into reality.
From burnout to sustainable ambition
Recovery from ADHD burnout isn’t about willpower or pushing through. It requires a fundamentally different approach: one that acknowledges your brain’s actual capacity rather than what you think it should be capable of.
If you believe you may be struggling with ADHD-related burnout, here are some steps you can take to begin the recovery process:
Assess your commitments honestly
When you’re experiencing burnout, everything feels equally urgent and important. It’s not. Look at your current commitments and ask: “What would happen if I didn’t do this?” Some things will have real consequences, but many won’t. Give yourself permission to let the non-essential things fall away, even temporarily. This isn’t giving up on your ambitions; it’s creating space for your nervous system to recover so you can actually pursue them later.
Unmask in safe spaces
If masking is contributing to your burnout, identify where you can drop it. Maybe that’s at home, with certain friends, or even just when you’re alone. Notice what it feels like to stim freely, to speak without filtering every word, to lose track of time without guilt, or to allow your apartment to be a little messy. These pockets of authenticity are essential to you experiencing moments of ease and restoration.
Slowly return to healthy coping strategies
When you’re experiencing ADHD-related burnout, your healthy coping mechanisms can be the first thing to go. It’s important that you don’t try to resurrect all of them at once. Trying to implement everything simultaneously will just trigger another crash.
Pick one — maybe it’s your morning routine, your calendar system, or your medication schedule — and focus only on that until it feels manageable again. Then add the next piece.
Address the sensory overwhelm
If you’re experiencing heightened sensitivity to sensory experiences, take steps to take care of yourself, including dimming your lights, wearing comfortable clothing, and saying no to overstimulating environments. Sensory regulation is a legitimate need. When your nervous system isn’t constantly battling input, you’ll have more energy for everything else.
Get external support
ADHD brains struggle with internal regulation, especially during burnout. This is when external structure becomes crucial. That might look like body doubling (working alongside someone else), accountability partners, coaching, medication adjustment, and/or therapy.
Renegotiate with your ambition
Here’s the hard truth: you probably can’t pursue all those goals simultaneously, but you also don’t have to abandon them. Instead, ask yourself: “Which one or two ambitions matter most to me in this season?” Focus there. The others aren’t gone and there’s nothing preventing you from pursuing them in the future if you decide later on that those goals are still important to you, You might have thought you could do everything in a moment when you felt particularly energized, but sustainable living with ADHD means learning to do fewer things with more presence and energy.
Recovering from ADHD-burnout may not be a one-time thing, but there are protections you can put in place, including getting radically honest with yourself about what you’re capable of doing in any given season of your life. This doesn’t mean getting rid of your ambition; it means making it more manageable. And we’re here for you when you’re ready to take that step.
About the Author
Gwen is a writer and therapist in training who assists clients in rewriting their life stories and breaking out of limiting thought patterns. Outside of work, she’s an avid runner, proud caretaker to her labradoodle, Paloma, and a fried chicken sandwich fiend.