Autism Escape Plans

Do you have an escape plan? You should have one

Survival technique #1. To avoid overwhelm remove yourself from the situation as soon as you notice you are feeling overwhelmed, stressed, or distressed.
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This is a sort of “insurance plan” to make sure you do self care for yourself immediately instead of trying to tolerate something that causes you to feel overwhelmed, upset, afraid, distressed. Meltdowns and shutdowns happen when we have too much input and our processing systems can’t keep up.
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In long experience with my spouse, I know I can tell him I am headed to the car, outside in the yard, to the back of the building, the washrooms, or any other place to remove myself from the feeling I will soon be overwhelmed in a new or different place.

I have escapes built in at home with my quiet place and comfort items, and I can go indoors or outdoors at will to avoid input I want/need to avoid.

I mostly don’t venture out of my comfort zone, and I am old enough and experienced enough at my age (73) to detect the signs and to be able to avoid situations which may be distressing to begin with. I almost never subject myself to overwhelm just to please somebody else or because doing the “thing” is expected of me.
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Sometimes we can’t avoid being in such distressing situations, where there are things we must do, places we must be, etc and for some reason other ways can’t be substituted. If you are headed into the unknown, make a plan ahead of time.
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Arrange with others ( if you are accompanied) ahead of time so if they can’t find you, they know where to look. You will have gone to your “safe place”. If you don’t have an escape plan or have never used one, its time to think about this handy self accommodation/ self care technique and put it into action.
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There is no reason to subject yourself to shutdown/meltdown/overwhelm or expect yourself to endure painful or upsetting experiences just to please somebody else. Self care always first; make sure you have a backup plan when you venture into potentially upsetting territory, then make your escape knowing it is understood where you will be found if you need to shelter yourself from too much physical or emotional input.