I really feel for everyone who's just realising that you can be tired in ways other than physical. Some things I learned during brain injury recovery might be helpful:

Your brain is really excellent at prioritising what to spend energy on and it won't necessarily consult you about it. When my brain was injured it re-routed most of my energy into repairing it, which is why I had (/have) fatigue.

We don't all have brain injuries. But we are all having to do loads of new things, think in loads of new ways, and (for many of us) think far more urgently about our survival. It's not surprising if your brain redirects energy from other things.

You can absolutely be tired just from thinking. I used to be tired of thinking frequently. The brain injury made my 'thinking limit' more noticeable and much lower, so I encountered it all the time - but I think everyone has one.

You can also be tired of specific types of thinking! I used to (and still do) get executive function fatigue - tired of organising and planning. Sometimes I could have an abstract conversation about art but couldn't e.g. put the shopping away - couldn't plan the order

When I started back at work, I would get home from school and my boyfriend would ask me what kind of juice I wanted and I'd have absolutely no idea and would have to have him choose for me. Because I was just exhausted from making decisions.

Deciding what to do is tiring! Dividing up the vast undifferentiated stretch of TIME ahead of you into discrete sections, and then choosing actions to do in those sections, is tiring!

I already know that I need routines because of having to be very On It with mental health over the years to keep going, but if you haven't had to confront it before it might be easy not to notice how difficult it is to suddenly have all your routines taken away.

Other things you can be tired of (and my autistic pals will all know this too):

- tired of too many/too much sensory input(s)
- tired of strong emotions
- tired of having to perform friendliness and politeness in different contexts

I have been forced to confront these things due to brain injury, but the injury didn't fundamentally change the nature of my brain (I was super lucky in that regard!), it just lowered its limits for what it could deal with without getting tired.

I think we all have these limits and I think many of us are coming up against them now.

A really important thing for me dealing with fatigue has been changing the tone of voice I speak to myself in when I notice I'm tired. "Why the fuck are you tired you useless potato sack?" is not useful for navigating continuous fatigue (or any tiredness tbh)

I try really hard to ask "what does this tiredness feel like? what feels possible from within it, and what doesn't?". Sometimes the answer will be NOPE NOTHING but sometimes it'll be - I'm tired of making decisions, but I could do something familiar.

Or, I'm tired of talking but I could sit by myself for a while. Or I'm tired of this noise but I could look at something. Or I'm tired of standing up but could sit and do thinking-based things from my bed.

It's got to be okay if the answer is "nothing", too. It's not about trying to hack tiredness and make it "productive". But if you're constantly in some or other state of tiredness, you have to find ways of avoiding boredom and despair

Oh also - a lot of lockdown mental health advice (including from the government, yay) will use CBT terms like "helpful behaviours" and "unhelpful behaviours". Personally I do NOT find this at all, uh, helpful.

For me, an "unhelpful/helpful" binary triggers all sorts of panic and shame and guilt. I'm always only doing what feels possible. Everything is a balance between long and short term priorities.

Rather than labelling my behaviours helpful/unhelpful, I try to practice asking myself open questions, giving myself the time to think through my full range of options, and slowing down my self-judgement.

As ever, @ofthesparrows' thought really helps me here - "self care as an attitude rather than an entitlement". It's not just if I tick all my Good Self-Care Citizen boxes I win the prize of wellbeing. It's trying to make the whole process gentler and more caring

Which only comes through repetition, trying to be a little more gentle with myself each time, trying to genuinely learn (in an open, curious way) from what my body does and remember it the next time

Anyway this ended up l o n g but I hope it helps, be gentle gentle gentle not just in your activities but in your entire attitude to thinking about "activities" as a concept!!!