In my previous blog post, I looked at how I visually stim to help to regulate myself and how it shows up in a positive way. However, I also find that it can serve as an early warning sign for me becoming overwhelmed, especially when I'm tired.
Instead of noticing all of the interesting colourful, patterned, fun things in my home, I begin to notice all of the negative things. So that's things that need to be tidied away, things that have been put in the wrong place, things that need to be fixed, things that are on my 'to do' list, etc.
As soon as I start noticing those things (and the uncomfortable feeling in my chest that accompanies it), I've learned that the best thing to do is to take 5 minutes to run around and 'fix' as many of those issues as possible, and bring back some visual calm.
My family now know that when that happens, it's not just me 'going off on one' - there's a real reason behind it and they can support me in feeling better. And if more than one person is tidying, it really does only take a few minutes. It also makes me feel understood and supported, and what more does a person really want than that?
Only once the tidy up is done do I feel able to start regulating myself. If I / we didn't take those actions, it's very likely I would head into a shouting match with my family and then onto a full on meltdown. And that's not how anyone wants to spend their time.