The economic power of the Southern Rim

Kern River Valley, California by Albert Bierstadt, 1871

I am currently reading ‘Power Shift: The Rise of the Southern Rim and Its Challenge to the Eastern Establishment’ (1975) by Kirkpatrick Sale. I bought this book at a rather small store where used books are sold, among other things. It has been a rather interesting book for me right from the beginning. Therefore, I will post some quotes from it already. “If the Southern Rim were an independent nation, it would have a gross national product bigger than any foreign country in the world except the Soviet Union - it stood at some $312 billion in 1970, is probably closer to $400 billion today - and bigger than that of the United Kingdom, Italy, Sweden, and Norway combined. It would have more cars (43 million) and more telephones (38 million) than any foreign nation (more than the United Kingdom, France, and Germany combined), and more housing units (22 million), more television sets (25 million), and more miles of paved highway (1.1 million) than any nation except the Soviet Union. It would, in short, be a world power on the scale of the present superpowers. Which is only one way of dramatizing the enormous economic importance of the Southern Rim, an importance all the more remarkable in that it has come about only in the last thirty years, changing the pleasant little backwaters and half-grown cities into an industrial and financial colossus. The explanation of that remarkable growth is that, to an unusual extent, almost all of the general trends in the American economy since 1945 have been more to the benefit of the Southern Rim than any other section of the country. There is a broadly metaphorical but rather apt way of describing these rival power bases, the one of the Northeast and the other of the Southern Rim, as the yankees and the cowboys. Taken loosely, that is meant to suggest the traditional, staid, old-time, button-down, Ivy-League, tight-lipped, patrician, New England-rooted WASP culture on the one hand, and the aggressive, flamboyant, restless, swaggering, newfangled, open-collar, can-do, Southern-rooted Baptist culture of the Southern Rim on the other; on the one hand, let us say, the type represented by David Rockefeller, Charles Percy, Edmund Muskie, James Reston, Kingman Brewster, John Lindsay, Richard Lugar, Henry Ford, Sol Linowitz, Bill Buckley, and Stephen Sondheim, and on the other the type personified by Bebe Rebozo, George Wallace, Lyndon Johnson, Billy Graham, Frank Irwin, C. Arnholt Smith, H. L. Hunt, Strom Thurmond, Sam Yorty, John Wayne, and Johnny Cash. The terms are meant only in the loosest and most symbolic way, of course - flamboyant operators can be found in the Northeast, staid blue-bloods in the Southern Rim - but it is interesting that they even have an appropriate heritage in this very context. “Cowboys” was the epithet used by the Wall Street people who first ran up against some of the newly powerful Texas entrepreneurs, broad-rimmed hats and tooled-leather boots and all, when they started throwing their weight around in Eastern financial circles in the late 1950s and early 1960s - during the fierce battle, for example, between the Texas millionaires Clint Murchison and Sid Richardson and Pennsylvania’s patrician Allen Kirby for control of the Allegheny Corporation and the New York Central Railroad in 1961. “Yankee,” the invective which goes back to the days of the Civil War to describe Northerners in general, was naturally the word with which the newcomers responded, at least back home in the boardrooms and bars. The first and most important trend was obviously that of the population migrations. From 1945 to 1975, the Southern Rim underwent the most massive population expansion in history, from about 40 million people to nearly 80 million people in just three decades, giving the area today a population greater than all but seven foreign countries. Thanks to a complexity of factors - a hospitable climate, the development of air conditioning, water reclamation projects, available space for commercial and private building, the new technologies of communication and transportation - industries and individuals alike poured into new territories of the Rim. Every single one of the fifteen cowboy states grew during this period, some quite spectacularly - Texas by over 100 percent to become the third largest state, California by 200 percent, to become the largest state of all, Florida by 400 percent, Arizona and Nevada by more than 450 percent - and as a whole they have consistently made up nearly half of the growth that the nation as a whole has undergone. Migrations every year since World War II have poured millions of new people into the area - on average about 650,000 newcomers every year, turning bucolic farmlands into sprawling suburbs and little crossroads cowtowns into gleaming metropolitan centers. The cities have grown unlike any urban areas in the world, 500 and 800 and 1,000 percent in just this thirty-year span - Fort Lauderdale from 18,000 to 150,000, Huntsville from 13,000 to 140,000, Houston from 385,000 to 1,400,000, Phoenix from 65,000 to 755,000, San Jose from 68,000 to 446,000, incredible urban explosions right across the Rim - and today there are actually more cities over 100,000 people in this area than there are in the Northeast. Nor does this development show any signs of slackening, despite the economic downturn, despite the efforts of “no-growth” lobbies: the most recent statistics show that the Southern Rim continues to grow about three times as fast as the whole rest of the country combined, and even modest projections suggest that the region will have 83.7 million people by 1980. According to the demographers, never in the history of the world has a region of such size developed at such a rate for so long a time. The second decisive economic trend of this period has been the transformation brought about by the sophisticated new technology developed since World War II. In broad terms there has been a shift from the traditional heavy manufacturing long associated with the Industrial Belt of the Northeast to the new technological industries that have grown up in the Southern Rim - aerospace, defense, electronics - and from the dependency upon railroad transportation to the growth of air and highway transportation, both relatively more important in the Southern Rim. Similarly, in the use of natural resources there has been a development away from coal and heavy metals such as iron and steel, the resources of the Northeast, toward oil and natural gas and the light metals such as aluminum and titanium, the products of the Southern Rim. And in agriculture, new technologies have favored large-scale and often corporate farming, advantageous particularly where space in plentiful, growing seasons are long, and the crops are suitable, and that turns out to be the Southern Rim. Finally, trends in employment patterns over this thirty-year period have also tended to tilt things toward the cowboy economy. The single most important development has been the gradual decrease in blue-collar industrial workers - these the backbone of the Industrial Belt - and the sharp increase in service and government workers - these the ones most important in the newly populated states with expanding governments and in the tourist-and-retirement areas like Florida, Texas, Arizona, and Southern California; especially in the booming new Rim cities, service employment has enormously increased, in fact by more than 70 percent over the last twenty years, as against 6 percent in the older cities of the Northeast. In like nature, the employment shifts brought about by postwar programs of paid retirement, the expansion of Social Security, and union-won benefits for longer vacations and shorter hours have all meant more earlier retirements to the sunnier parts of the land and more emphasis upon climatic amenities as an inducement for resettlement of the labor force. Indeed, if any one industry can be said to be the backbone of the Southern Rim, it is defense. The decade of its initial postwar impact, from about 1952 through 1962 - that is, the period of the Korean War and the Cold War buildup, but before the Vietnam acceleration - has been studied in detail by a Brookings Institution economist, Roger Bolton. According to his findings, the overall contribution of defense to the total income of individual states was startlingly large - particularly in the Pacific Region (especially Southern California) and the Mountain Region (primarily Arizona and New Mexico), where it also accounted for 21 and 27 percent, respectively, of the economic growth of those areas, and in the South Atlantic Region and the Middle South, where it was responsible for 3 and 10 percent of the growth. At the same time, he figures a negative impact in the Northeast, where he finds that cuts in defense spending held back the Middle Atlantic region by 3 percent and the Great Lakes area by a significant 21 percent. As to individual states, the ones that saw a gain of 20 percent or more as a result of defense expenditures were California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Mississippi in the Rim, only New Hampshire in the Northeast, and Utah, Colorado, and Kansas; such states as Michigan, Wisconsin, and Indiana actually had negative growth rates. But in the second decade - the years of Vietnam and the moondoggle - the effect was even greater. During those years the balance of Pentagon prime contracts shifted sharply to the Southern Rim, with the percentages mounting every year, until by 1970 its states accounted for 44.1 percent of all the money going to the defense industry, the Northeast only 38.9 percent. Texas surpassed New York as the number two state behind California, and those two between them accounted for 28 percent of the contracts, more than twice as much as the next two states, New York and Illinois. By 1970, too, the Rim had five of the top ten states in terms of total Department of Defense spending (California, Texas, Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina), four of the top five states in aerospace funding (California, Texas, Florida, and Alabama), and four of the top five states in Atomic Energy Commission grants (New Mexico, California, Tennessee, and Nevada). The number of major defense installations (military bases, missile sites, etc.) in the Southern Rim had grown to 142 more than all the rest of the nation put together, and 82 more than were located in the Northeast. Defense Department payrolls by 1970 were also concentrated in the Rim: military salaries went primarily to California, Texas, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, and Georgia, in that order, and military and civilian payrolls together amounted to more than $10 billion in the Rim, more than all the other states combined. And Pentagon research-and-development funds - the seed money that creates new technologies and industries - were concentrated in the Southern Rim, which had 49 percent of the funds as against just 35 percent for the Northeast. Today the repercussions of military money upon the once-placid Rim are evident everywhere. It is a commonplace that California is a heavily saturated defense area - especially around Los Angeles, where no fewer than seventy firms depend upon Pentagon prime contracts - and that it receives about a quarter of the total defense dollar all by itself; Texas, too, what with the Houston Space Center and major firms like LTV and Convair, has long been identified with the new Washington money. But few realize that even in such states as Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, and New Mexico, the defense industry is the single largest employer, an economic presence with enormous ramifications. Take New Mexico, for example. Without defense, it would still probably be a land of Indians and Chicanos - a reversion to which condition those two groups would no doubt welcome - instead of one of the nation’s fastest-growing states. It has eight major defense installations (including the White Sands Missile Range, the site of the first atomic bomb test), a dozen important research centers (including the Los Alamos and Sandia laboratories), and several dozen corporate defense contractors (including AT&T’s Sandia Corporation and United Nuclear). It gets more money from the AEC than any other state and almost as much from the Pentagon, together amounting to some $750 million a year - which works out to about $2,500 for every single family in the state. (The military loves the place so much that even the Navy spends money there - some $11 million a year - even though the state is completely landlocked and there’s not even a lake big enough to spit in.) And its industry is dominated by defense work, responsible for half of all employment and by itself the largest manufacturing sector in the state’s economy. It seems entirely fitting, if nonetheless gruesome, that one little New Mexico schoolchild after a visit to the Atomic Museum at Kirtland Air Force Base should write to the curator, “You have nice rockets and nice bombs. Thank you.” The industrial aspect of defense spending, though only one part of the total defense cornucopia, has been especially significant in the Southern Rim, inasmuch as it has been largely responsible for building the manufacturing substructure of the region. From 1965, thanks partly to Lyndon Johnson’s ascendancy, Southern Rim firms have gotten a greater percentage of Pentagon contracts than any other section of the country, an influx of $15 billion or so a year. And defense contractors, it should be noted, are in a uniquely strong economic position, with advantages not shared by the older, more conventional industries. They depend upon public money, from a Washington fountainhead that just never runs dry, and they are in the happy position of being able to tap it for practically as much as they want. Defense firms just don’t work like other firms. Since 1950, for example, 86 percent of their contracts with the Pentagon have been signed without competitive bidding, but simply through secret negotiations between military brass and industrial management, meaning that even firms with high bids can continue to get lucrative jobs, and certain favored contractors - Lockheed and Litton are familiar examples - can go on getting lucrative jobs even when their past performances would argue that they shouldn’t be given a contract to put stamps on envelopes. Defense contractors have other gimmicks, too: they are given the use of some $45 billion in plant and equipment in what amounts to a tax-free government loan; they are permitted to exercise cost-plus banditry through the so-called “golden handshake” clauses that provide that the government bails out any company whose costs run over a projected level; and they are permitted by the government to make exorbitant profits as a matter of course, often in excess of 50 percent and sometimes more than 500 percent (when a 20 percent profit would be considered good in most other manufacturing). All in all, no other business does quite as well as the defense business, and its preponderance in the Southern Rim has almost by itself allowed that region to develop the industrial might that today can challenge the traditional industrial power of the Northeast. One part of the defense industry that has been particularly glamorous in recent decades is aerospace and electronics, but that is actually just a part of the whole range of modern scientific and engineering businesses - including computers, calculators, semiconductors, scientific instruments, magnetic recordings, and much else besides - which can broadly be called the technology industry. Given its unquestioned importance now, even more outside of the defense industry than in it, and its assured centrality in any future industrial development, it seems reasonable to regard this as a separate economic pillar."

Elizabeth Taylor remembered by Philip French

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/mar/27/elizabeth-taylor-tribute-philip-french

Philip French remembers the child star turned Oscar-winning actress, who was as celebrated as much for her tempestuous relationships as her movies.

For people like myself, born in Britain in the inter-war years and growing up during the second world war, Elizabeth Taylor will always be thought of as the youngest of four British evacuees who brought their immaculate English accents to Hollywood and became an essential part of a corner of Tinseltown that was forever England. She and Peter Lawford were transported across the Atlantic by their parents as war clouds gathered over Europe and were put under contract by MGM in the early 1940s. Roddy McDowall followed when bombs began to fall on Britain, as did Angela Lansbury who was also signed by MGM. McDowall was the first to attain stardom, playing the Welsh miner's son in How Green Was My Valley and then appearing in MGM's children's classic, Lassie Come Home, in which Taylor had her first significant role. It was the beginning of a lifelong friendship and McDowall became her closest confidant.

Taylor, Lawford and McDowall were all in the tribute to British fortitude, The White Cliffs of Dover (1944), and the 12-year-old Taylor became a star as the farmer's daughter who triumphed at Aintree in National Velvet, with Lansbury as her elder sister. Lawford gave Taylor her first screen kiss at 16, an innocent enough peck, and although it's said that Taylor's mother rather fancied the idea of a courtship between the two, an order went out from MGM's boss Louis B Mayer that a romance should be discouraged. Taylor later said of Lawford: "Peter, to me, is the last word in sophistication and so terribly handsome." They did work together again on the glossy 1949 version of Little Women, in which Taylor played Amy March, and they remained close friends until his death.

McDowall became a leading character actor (he appeared with Lansbury in the 1971 Disney movie Bedknobs and Broomsticks) and a highly regarded photographer. Lawford was a member of the Kennedy clan and the Sinatra Rat Pack but ended up as a seedy alcoholic. Lansbury continues to be one of the most respected actors of her time. Taylor was later to be reunited on screen with McDowall in Cleopatra (1963), where he played Octavian, and with Lansbury in The Mirror Crack'd, when she played second fiddle as a faded Hollywood diva to Lansbury's Miss Marple. But she was the only one of this close-knit quartet to become a major screen star, one of the last to be created by the old studio system. She remained under contract to MGM until 1960, winning her first Oscar for her final movie there, the melodrama Butterfield 8.

Taylor was small (5ft 2in), dark-haired, her eyes a striking violet, her eyebrows unfashionably thick, her eyelashes as seductively employed as a courtesan's fan, and she was beautiful in different ways at various stages of her 70-year career, although her weight fluctuated alarmingly later in life. In 1941, the head of Universal Studios, when deciding not to renew Taylor's contract after her first film there, told her agent: "She can't sing, she can't act, she can't dance, she can't perform. What's more, her mother has to be the most unbearable woman it has been my displeasure to meet." This is rather like the infamous judgment on Fred Astaire's first screen test and similarly misses the point. Taylor from the start had a rare intensity, sincerity, confidence and vulnerability, and she was blessed with that indefinable, attention-grabbing presence we call charisma.

She was never out of the limelight as an actress or a celebrity from childhood until the end of her life. But her finest work was done early on, up until the late 1950s, when she was least conscious of acting. During this period she appeared as Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett's daughter in Minnelli's Father of the Bride (1950); the entrancing object of the sad, social-climbing blue-collar Montgomery Clift in A Place in the Sun, and the strong city girl brought to Texas by rancher Rock Hudson in Giant, both directed by George Stevens; and in versions of two Tennessee Williams plays in which she was respectively the wife and the intimate cousin of a closeted gay, Cat On a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959).

When the 17-year-old hero and his girlfriend go to the cinema in small-town 1951 Texas in Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show, they see Taylor in Father of the Bride: she is clearly the belle idéale of postwar America. The iconic shot of her in a white bathing suit in Suddenly, Last Summer is famously ravishing and has a particular poignancy when one considers that in the scene from which it comes she's being exploited as bait to attract young men to her homosexual cousin. In fact, throughout her life she had a special affinity with gay men (McDowall, Clift and Hudson were also close confidants) and seemed happiest and most relaxed in their company. She was among the first celebrities to play a prominent role in promoting public consciousness over Aids and then raising money for HIV-related charities.

Taylor was praised as a child and adolescent, but from the early 50s until Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? it was customary for serious critics to regard her with patronising contempt. Variety said of A Place in the Sun that "the histrionics are of a quality so far beyond anything she has done previously that Stevens must be credited with a minor miracle". The acerbic Dwight Macdonald reviewing Suddenly, Last Summer in Esquire ironically complimented Joseph L Mankiewicz for his "directorial triumph: he has somehow extracted from Elizabeth Taylor a mediocre performance, which is a definite step-up in her dramatic career". Such reviews may well have been affected by the critics' refusal to respond to her beauty and magic spell. This must have been deeply dispiriting, especially as she was aware, we now know, of how mediocre the films MGM put her into were.

Since a riding accident during the shooting of National Velvet, Taylor was to be dogged by ill health, ranging from back problems to heart disease and cancer. The sympathy this attracted coexisted with a more mixed response to her succession of marriages, eight in all, to seven husbands. The public felt deeply for her when her third husband, the flamboyant Mike Todd was killed in a plane crash after little more than a year of marriage. But this rapidly changed. A few months later, she was widely depicted as a brazen predator after stealing Eddie Fisher from Debbie Reynolds, whose seemingly perfect marriage had been thought of as the most emblematic of the Eisenhower era. Another couple of years on, she became the century's most publicised Jezebel when she ditched Fisher during the filming of Cleopatra in the early 1960s and embarked on an affair with the married Richard Burton.

Cleopatra, in fact, was a turning point for her and a landmark in the history of Hollywood. She became the first star to be paid more than a million dollars, the film became legendary for its chaotic production history, and it made Taylor and Burton the most notorious lovers of the 20th century. They were as extravagant, reckless and wilful as the historical character they were playing on screen. The affair and the marriage made her determined to make her mark as a serious actress, a worthy partner to Burton. Some observers, however, see this as having a seriously detrimental effect on her work.

Over the next decade, Burton and Taylor were more celebrated for their vulgar ostentation and public rows than for their work. After Cleopatra, they appeared together in a further 10 films, most mirroring their marriage. Among them were The Sandpiper, in which liberated artist Taylor lures vicar-schoolteacher Burton off the straight and narrow; The Taming of the Shrew, which parallels their own tempestuous courtship; and the 1973 TV film, Divorce His-Divorce Hers, that more or less describes their final break-up. When they had come together after their divorce for a second brief marriage, an American columnist observed: "Sturm has remarried Drang". The one truly successful film of this period is Mike Nichols's version of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, where a middle-aged academic couple tear each other apart in a manner reminiscent of Strindberg at his most atrabilious. Both gave raw, revealing performances.

Virginia Woolf brought Taylor her second Oscar, but her screen career from that point on can be seen as a downhill journey and the public tired of Burton and Taylor. She was very good in John Huston's Reflections in a Golden Eye opposite Marlon Brando, but it was not popular, and most of her films thereafter failed to secure a wide release or went straight to graveyard slots on TV. At least two, however, are worthy of attention: Boom! and Secret Ceremony, both British films directed by Joseph Losey in 1968. After the 70s, only two of her pictures were widely seen: The Mirror Crack'd (1980), the poorest of a British series of Agatha Christie period whodunits, and her final theatrical film, playing Pearl Slaghoople, in The Flintstones (1994), a live-action, one-joke movie spin-off from the 60s TV cartoon series. It was a sad end to her big-screen career, though she did a deal of TV, including Malice in Wonderland (1985), a docudrama about Hollywood gossip columnists in which she plays Louella Parsons.

In those last couple of decades Elizabeth Taylor became a heroic coper with ill health, a supporter of good causes, and a vociferously loyal friend to, among others, Michael Jackson. She couldn't shift tickets at the box office, but she was in demand as a star and a celebrity on the cover of popular magazines. She was always a dual national, born in Britain of American parents, and thus eligible to become a Dame of the British Empire in 2000.

Her only stage appearances were starring opposite Burton in Private Lives, Coward's bittersweet comedy of marriage and divorce that perfectly reflected their relationship, and as the southern bitch Regina in a 1981 revival of Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes, the London version of which showed up the inadequacy of her stagecraft. But in looking at her life towards the end she invoked one of the greatest female roles of the 20th century: "I'm Mother Courage, baby, I've been through it all."

So how will history judge her? In 1999, the American Film Institute, after an earnest weighing of evidence over performance, reputation, influence and so on, came up with a list of more than 100 film actresses who might be considered female screen legends. They submitted it to a carefully chosen selection of professionals from all branches of the film industry. Taylor was placed seventh, just ahead of Judy Garland, Marlene Dietrich and Joan Crawford and behind Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, Audrey Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman, Greta Garbo and Marilyn Monroe. This seems, for the moment, a satisfactory seating arrangement in the cinematic pantheon.

Just finished watching Once Upon A Time In China (1991) and Border River (1954)...

New post Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness (2022) and Wake Up Dead Man (2025)...

The Weight of a Day: Masking, Burnout, and the Need for Restorative Spaces | NeurodiverseNights Blog

https://www.neurodiversenights.com/blog/weight-of-a-day-masking/

For many neurodivergent individuals, navigating a world primarily designed for neurotypical brains involves an often invisible, yet immense, effort: masking. Masking (or camouflaging) involves consciously or unconsciously suppressing natural neurodivergent traits, behaviours, or stims, and performing neurotypical social behaviours to fit in, avoid negative judgment, or simply manage daily interactions.

While sometimes a necessary survival strategy, masking comes at a significant cost. It requires constant monitoring, calculation, and suppression of authentic self-expression. This sustained effort consumes vast amounts of cognitive and emotional energy, contributing significantly to fatigue, overwhelm, and, over time, burnout.

Masking can involve things like:

- Forcing eye contact when it feels uncomfortable or overwhelming.
- Suppressing natural stims (like hand flapping, rocking, pacing).
- Mimicking facial expressions or tones of voice considered "appropriate."
- Carefully planning and rehearsing conversational scripts.
- Pushing through sensory sensitivities without comment or accommodation.
- Hiding intense interests or avoiding info-dumping.
- Constantly monitoring oneself to ensure behaviour aligns with perceived norms.

Each of these acts, multiplied throughout the day, adds to an enormous mental load.

When we expend so much energy just navigating the day, it's no wonder that the need for rest becomes profound. The exhaustion isn't just physical; it's deep cognitive and emotional fatigue. This highlights why simply being told to "Just Relax" can feel so inadequate.

The recovery needed goes beyond simple sleep. It requires spaces and times where the mask can truly come off, where energy isn't spent on performance, and where the nervous system can down-regulate without judgment. This is where the concept of a sensory-friendly relaxation space becomes not just a nicety, but a necessity.

Your restorative space is where you can:

- Engage in comfortable sensory input (soft textures, dim lights, calming sounds).
- Allow natural stims and movements without self-consciousness.
- Engage with interests without needing to filter or moderate enthusiasm.
- Simply *be* without the pressure of social performance.
- Listen to affirming content, like NeurodiverseNights stories that embrace different ways of being.

Recognizing the toll of masking validates the deep need for authentic rest and recovery. Prioritizing the creation of safe, low-demand environments – physical, temporal, and relational – where you can unmask and recharge is not an indulgence; it's crucial for sustainable well-being in a world that often demands conformity.

These Are the 16 Strongest Antioxidants to Add to Your Diet

https://www.byrdie.com/strongest-antioxidants-5209114

Eating a balanced meal is hard can be challenging, but it’s not impossible. Maybe you’re pretty satisfied with your diet and you’re just looking to incorporate some extra punches of nutrition to your day-to-day snacks. Maybe you’re unhappy with your current diet, and you’re looking to make smaller, more measured changes that will be easier to stick to overtime. Either way you’re coming at it, it's always a great idea to incorporate more antioxidants in your diet.

“An antioxidant is a naturally occurring compound found in vitamins and minerals that combat free radicals in the body,” says Meryl Pritchard, a nutritionist and wellness chef. “Free radicals are a natural byproduct when we convert food into energy, and also come from outside sources like environmental toxins found in our air, water, food, and cleaning/beauty supplies. Free radicals can be harmful because they may have the ability to damage our DNA structure, and in large amounts can cause oxidative stress which can lead to disease.

"Antioxidant basically means anti-oxidation. You can think of oxidation as rusting, or aging in the body, caused by free radicals," she continues. "Antioxidants combat these free radicals—safely removing them from our body, help the processing of repairing our DNA, and keep cells healthy. It’s easiest for us to consume antioxidants in their natural form through our food.”

Luckily, you don't have to take sketchy supplements to increase your antioxidant intake. “Antioxidants are naturally found in plants,” says Isabel K. Smith, a registered dietitian. “Fruits, vegetables, nuts, and other plant compounds all contain antioxidants, and the color of the plant dictates the type of antioxidant present.”

Convinced you should start adding more antioxidants to your diet? Same. So ahead, Pritchard, Smith, and registered dietitian Lisa Moskovitz share the most powerful antioxidants and their sources. 

Meet the Experts
Lisa Moskovitz, RD is a registered dietitian and the CEO of NY Nutrition Group. She is also a medical expert board member for Eat This Not That.
Meryl Pritchard is a certified nutritionist and wellness chef based in Los Angeles, CA, Pritchard is also the founder of KORE Kitchen. 
Isabel K Smith, MS, RD, CDN is the CEO and founder of Isabel Smith Nutrition. Isabel holds a registered dietitian license and a Masters of Science in Nutrition Communications from Tufts University.

Beta Cerotene
“This is an essential vitamin that directly promotes eye health,” says Moskowitz. Carrots are rich in the antioxidant beta carotene, which our bodies convert to vitamin A. “An easy way to remember this is if you cut a carrot in half across the width, it almost appears like an eye," notes Moskowitz. 

Vitamin E
Moskowitz praises the benefits of vitamin E at length. “This fat-soluble antioxidant stops the production of cell-damaging oxidative stress in the body that can lead to chronic diseases, such as heart disease. Vitamin E can also support your immune system," she says, noting that vegetable oils—including sunflower and safflower oils, nuts, and seeds—are the best sources of this important vitamin. Smith also recommends including almonds and avocados to get more vitamin E. 

Vitamin C
“Not only does vitamin C help to balance our immune system, but it can also neutralize free radical molecules, protecting the body against oxidative damage,” says Moskowitz. It’s found in most fruits and vegetables, but if broccoli or oranges aren’t your jam, don’t worry—cacao is also a very potent source of vitamin C. (According to Pritchard, cacao has even more vitamin C than most berries.) 

Resveratrol
“This powerful polyphenol has a ton of health benefits,” says Moskowitz. “These include protecting against heart disease, lowering cholesterol, improving skin firmness, and even helping with blood sugars or insulin levels. Resveratrol is naturally found in smaller amounts within the skins of red grapes (and therefore red wine), blueberries, and peanuts. An easy way to work it into your diet is with Naomi Citrus Bergamot capsules. 

Quercetin
Quercetin is a source of one of the most abundant dietary flavonoids. “Quercetin has been linked to improving exercise performance, reducing inflammation, and regulating blood pressure,” says Moskowitz. She says that it can also be used for hay fever, asthma, gout, and chronic fatigue syndrome under the recommendation and supervision of a physician. Quercetin is a plant-pigment and flavonoid found naturally in fruits, vegetables, and plants. It can be consumed orally as a supplement and applied topically through skincare products for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

Selenium
This trace mineral plays an important role in immune system function, DNA synthesis, metabolism, and can also support thyroid health,” says Moskowitz. “Brazil nuts are by far the best source of this essential antioxidant. One brazil nut can provide you with all the selenium you need for the day. Otherwise, most animal proteins like chicken, beef, and fish also provide a great source of selenium.” 

CoQ10
“Coenzyme Q10 is an antioxidant that our body produces naturally, and it's vital for cell growth and repair," says Moskowitz. "Levels naturally decrease as we age, and lower CoQ10 circulation can increase susceptibility to oxidative stress, especially through sun damage. The best sources of CoQ10 are organ meats, some muscle meats such as pork or chicken, fatty fish including trout and herring, spinach, strawberries, and lentils.” 

Catechins
Catechins are types of flavanols that have strong antioxidant properties. One of the best-studied catechins is EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate), which is found naturally in teas, such as green, black, and white. Both Smith and Moskowitz say that EGCG has a profound impact on inflammation and oxidative stress. 

Anthocyanins
As members of the flavonoid group, anthocyanins are what give certain foods their natural blue, red, or purple color. For that reason, Moskowitz says that the best sources of anthocyanins include blackberries, blueberries, cranberries, cherries, red cabbage, and blackcurrants. Pritchard also recommends acai as another source of anthocyanins. Not only do they have antioxidant properties that can improve vascular health and lower blood pressure, but they are also anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial. 

Lypocene
This antioxidant is best found in tomatoes and other red or pink fruits. According to Smith, it is anti-inflammatory, heart-healthy, and is great for skin health. She says that the best way to get lycopene is to eat watermelon or cooked tomatoes. 

Lutein
Moskowitz says that lutein can directly enhance eye and skin health. This antioxidant can protect against sun damage to your skin and improve vision. The best sources of lutein include spinach, kiwis, grapes, zucchini, and various types of squash. 

Curcumin
Pritchard recommends adding turmeric into your diet, a powerful source of curcumin. Curcumin is a very potent anti-inflammatory, which can help manage chronic diseases like inflammatory bowel disease.

Sulforaphane
According to Smith, sulforaphane is anti-inflammatory and helps to protect DNA. She recommends sourcing it from cruciferous vegetables like kale, cabbage, and cauliflower. 

Chlorogenic Acid
The name might sound unfamiliar, but you’re probably already getting it everyday, in your morning cup of coffee. Chlorogenic acid is found alongside caffeine in coffee, and Smith encourages consuming chlorogenic acid as it may promote heart health. While you may be getting some chlogenic acid through that morning cup of joe, Smith says that it’s best found in artichoke hearts, and that streaming the hearts allows for the most antioxidants to appear.” 

Kaempferol
Smith says that kaempferol may be anti-inflammatory and is healthful for DNA. It’s found in high concentrations in leafy greens and ramps. 

Beta-Cryptoxanthin
Considering how much of our lives are consumed by staring at screens for school, work, and leisure, Smith recommends consuming beta-cryptoxanthin, which may be helpful with eyesight, growth and development, and immune response. It’s found in papayas, peaches, and tangerines!

Now listening to The Legend of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild by Manaka Kataoka, Yasuaki Iwata & Hajime Wakai and Boz Scaggs by Boz Scaggs...

On Georgia Street in Downtown Vancouver. Autumn of 2020.

Georgia Street is an east–west street in the cities of Vancouver and Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. Its section in Downtown Vancouver, designated West Georgia Street, serves as one of the primary streets for the financial and central business districts, and is the major transportation corridor connecting downtown Vancouver with the North Shore (and eventually Whistler) by way of the Lions Gate Bridge. The remainder of the street, known as East Georgia Street between Main Street and Boundary Road and simply Georgia Street within Burnaby, is more residential in character, and is discontinuous at several points.

West of Seymour Street, the thoroughfare is part of Highway 99. The entire section west of Main Street was previously designated part of Highway 1A, and markers for the '1A' designation can still be seen at certain points. 

Starting from its western terminus at Chilco Street by the edge of Stanley Park, Georgia Street runs southeast, separating the West End from the Coal Harbour neighbourhood. It then runs through the Financial District; landmarks and major skyscrapers along the way include Living Shangri-La (the city's tallest building), Trump International Hotel and Tower, Royal Centre, 666 Burrard tower, Hotel Vancouver and upscale shops, the HSBC Canada Building, the Vancouver Art Gallery, Georgia Hotel, Four Seasons Hotel, Pacific Centre, the Granville Entertainment District, Scotia Tower, and the Canada Post headquarters. The eastern portion of West Georgia features the Theatre District (including Queen Elizabeth Theatre and the Centre in Vancouver for the Performing Arts), Library Square (the central branch of the Vancouver Public Library), Rogers Arena, and BC Place. West Georgia's centre lane between Pender Street and Stanley Park is used as a counterflow lane.

East of Cambie Street, Georgia Street becomes a one-way street for eastbound traffic, and connects to the Georgia Viaduct for eastbound travellers only; westbound traffic is handled by Dunsmuir Street and the Dunsmuir Viaduct, located one block to the north.

East Georgia Street begins at the intersection with Main Street in Vancouver's Chinatown, then runs eastwards through Strathcona, Grandview–Woodland and Hastings–Sunrise to Boundary Road. East of the municipal boundary, Georgia Street continues eastwards through Burnaby until its terminus at Grove Avenue in the Lochdale neighbourhood. This portion of Georgia Street is interrupted at several locations, such as Templeton Secondary School, Highway 1 and Kensington Park. 

Georgia Street was named in 1886 after the Strait of Georgia, and ran between Chilco and Beatty Streets. After the first Georgia Viaduct opened in 1915, the street's eastern end was connected to Harris Street, and Harris Street was subsequently renamed East Georgia Street.

The second Georgia Viaduct, opened in 1972, connects to Prior Street at its eastern end instead. As a result, East Georgia Street has been disconnected from West Georgia ever since.

On June 15, 2011 Georgia Street became the focal point of the 2011 Vancouver Stanley Cup riot.

 

The Souls Of Acheron by Adolf Hiremy-Hirschl, 1898.

Toy Story 4: Life Lessons from (Not So) Lost Toys - Loud And Clear Reviews

https://loudandclearreviews.com/toy-story-4-review/

Toy Story 4, the latest instalment of Pixar’s beloved saga, is a heartwarming tale of love, friendship and adulthood with more than one lesson to teach.

Will there ever be such a thing as too many Toy Story films? Judging by the quality of John Lasseter’s latest film, we certainly hope we’ll be seeing our favourite toys again, even after a new adventure that sometimes feels like a goodbye to the franchise. But if Toy Story 4 might actually turn out to be the final chapter of Pixar’s saga, it is also undoubtedly one of the most enjoyable and heartwarming movies the Inside Out Studios have given us so far.

At the beginning of Toy Story 4, Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz (Tim Allen) and the rest of the gang have a lot to deal with. Bonnie, “their” child, is growing up, and her playing habits are beginning to change. Dust is starting to appear on the most unsuspectable toys, who don’t always get to be involved in Bonnie’s playtime. Not only that, but time has come for the little girl to start going to school. Changes are in order for Bonnie’s toys, and with change come ghosts from the past, new acquaintances and, most of all, important decisions to make.

In line with Pixar’s best tradition, Toy Story 4 is the perfect example of a film that will mean different things to adults than what it will mean to children. From the film’s cutest moments to its most hilarious sequences, every single scene is permeated by that very special, bittersweet layer of emotions that can always be perceived, under the surface. They remind us of our own childhood, they bring us back to a different time and place and they wake up our “inner child”, surprising us and moving us Pixar-style, in the most unexpected ways.

But Toy Story 4 does even more than that, because these toys are starting to look – and feel – less like toys by the minute. Just like “their” children, these little beings have grown up, and are now asking very adult questions. What happens when toys have served their purpose and their tiny humans don’t need them anymore? How can they keep the “voices in their head” at bay when they are not able to create happy memories for their children anymore? And, most of all, what happens to a toy when it becomes lost?

Though themes like memory, loss and purpose have certainly been explored by Pixar in the past Toy Story films, the fourth chapter is particularly successful at sending its message across, and that is due, first and foremost, to the quality of its screenplay. In what feels like the end of a long journey, every single character gets its chance to shine. As our favourite toys find new ways to get into trouble and keep us entertained with their ingenious plans, not only do we get plenty of catchprases and throwbacks to iconic scenes from the past movies, but we witness their evolution from Bonnie (and Andy)’s toys to (non) human beings in all and for all.

“Lost” toys come in all shapes and forms, and Toy Story 4 shows us exactly what that means. Forky (Tony Hale), the new member of the family, feels like he doesn’t belong to the group, so he declares himself as trash – which isn’t so far-fetched after all, since Bonnie made him from items that did, in fact, come from the trash. This fork-turned-toy doesn’t really know what it is and where it should belong, but there are other characters who feel lost, starting from two very old acquaintances. If Woody is looking for a purpose and asking life’s big questions, Buzz is trying to develop a conscience and listen to his own will. And then there’s a very independent Bo Beep (Annie Potts), who lives in an amusement park version of Neverland with her own family of lost boys toys. But there’s even more than that.

If Buzz and Woody are the foundation that holds every single Toy Story movie together with a strong friendship that lasts a lifetime, Toy Story 4‘s new characters are just as essential. There are hilariously evil plush toys who conjure up improbably plans, flawed action figures that save the day with unexpected acts of courage, and, of course, there are villains who turn out to be so much more than what they seem.

Most of Toy Story 4‘s memorable sequences take place in an antiques shop, which is also the place where we find some of the most interesting new characters, who are all-too-familiar but also more than a little creepy. 1950s talking pull-string doll Gabby Gabby (Christina Hendricks) is one of them, and she is the perfect antagonist for the film. Her adorable exterior doesn’t match her cunning mind, and that is the result of a factory defect that prevents her from being any little girl’s “best friend” and fulfilling her purpose as a doll. But, just like most Pixar villains, Gabby Gabby isn’t as one-sided as she initially appears to be: just like all the other objects in Second Chance Antiques – from hilariously disturbing “Benson” ventriloquist dummies to imperfect Canadian hero/action figure Duke Caboom (Keanu Reeves) – she is the very definition of a lost toy.

Toy Story 4 is Pixar at its best. Just like the very first Toy Story film, it feels like a childhood memory in itself, one that we never want to forget. It has the same level of adventure as The Incredibles, with a good dose of Up-style originality, Cars-level excitement and Ratatouille-like cuteness. It has clever inside jokes, immensely endearing characters and genuinely funny laugh-out-loud sequences. Most of all, just like Finding Nemo, Wall-E, Inside Out and every single movie Pixar has ever done, it has a great deal of heart.

Toy Story 4 was released worldwide on June 21, 2019.

Just finished watching Carnal Crimes (1991) and In Praise Of Older Women (1978)...

Just finished watching Five Nights At Freddy's 2 (2025) and The Sisters Brothers (2018)...

Finding Your “Permission to Rest”: Challenging Productivity Guilt | NeurodiverseNights Blog

https://www.neurodiversenights.com/blog/finding-permission-to-rest/

Do you ever feel guilty for resting? Do you feel like you need to "earn" downtime by being sufficiently productive first? In a society that often glorifies busyness and constant achievement, taking time for genuine rest – especially when your energy levels or processing style differ from the norm – can feel like an act of rebellion, often accompanied by a nagging sense of guilt.

This pressure can be particularly intense for neurodivergent individuals who may already be navigating different energy capacities, sensory needs, or the exhaustion from masking (The Weight of a Day). It can lead to pushing past limits, contributing to burnout and making true relaxation feel impossible (When "Just Relax" Doesn't Work).

The guilt around resting often stems from:

- Societal Productivity Standards: An ingrained cultural belief that our worth is tied to our output and achievements.
- Internalized Ableism: Unconsciously absorbing negative societal messages about disability or difference, leading to beliefs that needing more rest or different kinds of rest is a sign of weakness or laziness.
- Comparisons: Measuring our capacity or need for rest against neurotypical standards or seemingly high-achieving peers.
- Fear of Judgment: Worrying that others will perceive us as unproductive or unmotivated if we prioritize rest.

Challenging these pressures requires a conscious shift towards self-compassion and affirmation. NeurodiverseNights exists, in part, to offer a space that embodies this permission:

- Rest is a Right, Not a Reward: Your need for rest is valid, regardless of how much you accomplished today. Rest is essential for physical, mental, and emotional health, just like food or water.
- Honour Your Unique Needs: Embracing neurodiversity means accepting that your energy patterns, sensory requirements, and processing speeds might differ. Your need for rest is tailored to *your* system.
- Redefine Productivity: Recognize that "productive" activity includes acts of self-care, regulation, and restoration. Resting *is* productive for maintaining long-term well-being.
- Listen to Your Body (Gently): Practice noticing your body's signals (Listening to Your Body's Signals) for fatigue or overwhelm, and try to respond with kindness rather than pushing through unnecessarily.
- Find Affirming Resources: Surround yourself with messages and communities (like this one, we hope!) that validate the importance of rest and honour diverse needs.

Finding your "permission to rest" is an ongoing practice. It involves gently challenging ingrained beliefs and actively choosing self-compassion over guilt. Every time you allow yourself genuine, unapologetic rest – whether it's listening to a calming story, engaging in a quiet hobby, or simply doing nothing – you reinforce the vital message that your well-being matters, exactly as you are.

Now reading The Mind Of The Mathematician by Michael Fitzgerald & Ioan James…

Sister Act 2: Back In The Habit by various artists and Toys In The Attic by Aerosmith...

On Pacific Street in Downtown Vancouver. Summer of 2018.

Pacific Street is a vibrant east-west thoroughfare in the heart of downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, running parallel to the waterfront and serving as a key connector between the West End, Yaletown, and False Creek. It’s part of the city’s iconic seawall network, blending residential luxury, commercial energy, and recreational access. It’s a sought-after address for high-end condos and urban living, with a walk score often exceeding 90 due to its proximity to beaches, transit, and amenities.

Pacific Street stretches approximately 2 km through downtown, from the edge of Stanley Park in the west (near English Bay) eastward to Main Street, skirting the southern boundary of the West End and transitioning into Yaletown. It runs parallel to Beach Avenue and Davie Street, offering easy access to the Vancouver Seawall—a 28 km pedestrian and cycling path. It borders the upscale West End (residential and beachfront) to the north and the bustling downtown core/Yaletown to the south. Key intersections include Pacific & Hornby (luxury towers) and Pacific & Burrard (near Sunset Beach). Served by multiple transit options, including the SkyTrain’s Canada Line (Vancouver City Centre station nearby) and bus routes along Davie and Beach. It’s a short walk to the Vancouver Convention Centre and ferry terminals.

Named in the late 19th century during Vancouver’s early urban planning, Pacific Street emerged as a residential and commercial corridor amid the city’s post-1886 Great Fire rebuild. In the 1960s–1970s, it became part of broader downtown revitalization efforts, influenced by the development of Pacific Centre mall (opened 1974), which reshaped nearby Granville and Georgia Streets but indirectly boosted Pacific’s accessibility. Just north at Granville & Georgia, Pacific Centre Mall, a 578,000 sq ft shopping hub (built 1971–1973), was Vancouver’s largest indoor mall upon opening. It displaced heritage buildings but integrated with SkyTrain via skybridges to Hudson’s Bay and Vancouver Centre Mall. Today, it’s anchored by Holt Renfrew and features over 100 stores (e.g., Apple, Sephora, Tiffany & Co.), drawing 22 million visitors annually. A 2020s redevelopment added a glass-domed Apple Store at Howe & Georgia. Pacific Central Station (1150 Station St, near Main & Terminal Ave) is a short walk east. This 1919 Beaux-Arts railway terminus (built for $1 million) features granite, brick, and andesite facades with Doric columns and ornate interiors (skylights, mouldings). Originally for Canadian Northern Pacific Railway, it’s now VIA Rail/Amtrak’s western hub, with bus services added in 1993. It holds historical ties to Black Strathcona porters. The street reflects Vancouver’s shift from industrial port to modern condo haven, with 1970s towers giving way to 2020s luxury builds emphasizing seawall views.

The 501 (501 Pacific St) is a 33-story tower with 295 units, completed recently. It steps from False Creek and Sunset Beach. Amenities include gyms and rooftop decks; recent sales show competitive pricing (e.g., units sold $30K–$75K under asking in 2025). The Pacific by Grosvenor (889 Pacific St) is a 39-story, 221-unit development (2021), featuring Italian Snaidero cabinetry, Dornbracht fixtures, and deep balconies mimicking cloud textures. Units range from 1–4 bedrooms; a recent penthouse sold $75K under asking in October 2025. The Californian (1080 Pacific St) is a 7-story, 84-unit concrete building (1982) with rooftop decks, saunas, hot tubs, and recent upgrades (new plumbing, elevators). Walk score: 92; near Sunset Beach. 1215 Pacific St is a 5-story, 50-unit mid-rise (1977) with underground parking and storage, in the West End near Bute St. Lined with cafes, boutiques, and seawall access points, Pacific Street is a hub for cycling/jogging, with proximity to English Bay, Stanley Park, and Granville Island via bridges. The area supports an active lifestyle, with gyms, spas, and markets within blocks. Upscale yet accessible—think sunset strolls, yacht views, and quick hops to downtown shops. Real estate is hot, with 2025 sales reflecting Vancouver’s densification trend.

High walkability (92+ score); bike lanes and seawall paths abound. Parking is limited—use underground spots in condos or nearby lots. Buses run frequently; SeaBus is a 10-minute walk. Pacific Street embodies Vancouver’s “live-work-play” ethos, evolving from 1970s mall-driven commerce to 2020s luxury residential.

 

The Unique Weight of AuDHD Masking: Compounded Energy Cost | NeurodiverseNights Blog

https://www.neurodiversenights.com/blog/audhd-masking-energy-cost/

Masking, or camouflaging neurodivergent traits, is an exhausting endeavour for anyone who does it. As we discussed in The Weight of a Day, it involves constant self-monitoring and suppression. For individuals with AuDHD, this effort is often compounded, requiring the navigation and concealment of traits associated with *both* Autism and ADHD, which can sometimes feel contradictory.

Understanding this unique and intensified energy drain is crucial for recognizing the profound need for genuine rest, recovery, and spaces where unmasking feels not just possible, but safe and welcomed.

Masking AuDHD might involve simultaneously trying to:

- Suppress Autistic traits like stimming, avoiding eye contact, literal interpretation, or intense focus on specific details.
- Suppress ADHD traits like fidgeting/hyperactivity, interrupting, impulsive speech, visible distractibility, or outward signs of executive dysfunction.
- Perform neurotypical social norms regarding conversation flow, appropriate emotional expression, and small talk.
- Manage sensory sensitivities (Autistic trait) while potentially also needing to suppress sensory seeking behaviours (ADHD trait) that might seem out of place.
- Appear organized and attentive despite internal challenges with focus, planning, and working memory from both neurotypes.

This constant internal calculation – "Should I suppress this stim? Should I force myself to seem more energetic? Am I making enough eye contact? Am I talking too much/too little?" – requires an immense amount of cognitive resource.

The compounded effort of AuDHD masking leads directly to:

- Intense Fatigue: Not just physical tiredness, but deep cognitive and emotional exhaustion.
- Increased Risk of Burnout: Sustained masking depletes resources faster, making Autistic or ADHD burnout more likely.
- Delayed Emotional Reactions: Emotions suppressed during masking may surface later with greater intensity (Intense Emotions).
- Difficulty Connecting Authentically: Masking hinders genuine connection and can lead to feelings of isolation.
- Reduced Capacity for Anything Else: When so much energy goes into masking, there's little left for hobbies, self-care, chores, or even basic functioning.

Recognizing the unique weight of AuDHD masking underscores the critical importance of:

- Creating Unmasking Sanctuaries: Establishing times and places (your calm space) where you can drop the mask entirely and just *be*. This might be alone time, or time with trusted, accepting individuals.
- Radical Self-Acceptance: Working towards embracing all parts of your neurotype, reducing the internalized pressure to conform.
- Energy Conservation: Learning to say no and set boundaries to protect your limited energy reserves.
- Deep Rest & Recovery: Understanding that recovery from AuDHD masking requires more than just sleep; it needs low-demand periods, sensory regulation, and potentially engaging gently with special interests.

The effort involved in AuDHD masking is real and significant. Acknowledging this burden is the first step towards prioritizing the authentic rest and self-acceptance needed to thrive.

Understanding AuDHD Fatigue: Why Managing Two Neurotypes Takes Extra Energy | NeurodiverseNights Blog

https://www.neurodiversenights.com/blog/audhd-understanding-fatigue/

Fatigue is a common experience for many neurodivergent individuals, but for those with AuDHD, it can often feel like a constant companion – a deep, pervasive exhaustion that goes beyond typical tiredness. Understanding *why* navigating the world with both Autistic and ADHD traits requires so much extra energy is crucial for self-validation and developing sustainable self-care practices.

This isn't just about needing more sleep (though quality rest is vital - see The AuDHD Sleep Puzzle); it's about the cumulative energetic cost of managing two distinct, sometimes conflicting, neurological profiles throughout the day.

Consider the combined load:

- Constant Internal Negotiation: The ongoing mental effort of balancing the Autistic need for routine and predictability with the ADHD drive for novelty and stimulation (AuDHD Rhythm).
- Compounded Executive Function Demands: Managing challenges related to planning, initiation, task switching, time management, and working memory from *both* neurotypes simultaneously (AuDHD EF Support).
- Intensified Masking Effort: The need to potentially mask traits from both Autism and ADHD, often requiring complex self-monitoring and suppression (AuDHD Masking Cost).
- Complex Sensory Processing: Simultaneously managing hypersensitivities *and* seeking specific sensory inputs requires constant environmental scanning and regulation effort (AuDHD Sensory Experiences).
- Emotional Regulation Load: Processing and managing the intense emotional experiences common to both neurotypes takes significant energy (Intense Emotions).
- Social Navigation Difficulties: Interpreting complex social cues (Autistic trait) combined with potential impulsivity or conversational differences (ADHD trait) makes social interaction highly demanding.
- Sleep Difficulties: The confluence of restlessness, sensory issues, and potentially delayed sleep phases often leads to chronic sleep debt, exacerbating daytime fatigue.

Recognizing this compounded load validates why individuals with AuDHD might need more downtime, more frequent breaks, and different kinds of rest compared to others. It reinforces the importance of:

- Radical Permission to Rest: Actively challenging productivity guilt and accepting rest as a fundamental need (Permission to Rest).
- Low-Demand Time: Scheduling periods with minimal expectations, allowing for unmasking and quiet sensory regulation.
- Effective Sleep Strategies: Prioritizing personalized, flexible, sensory-aware sleep routines.
- Energy Conservation: Using external aids, simplifying tasks, setting boundaries (Saying No), and pacing activities.
- Self-Compassion: Understanding that fatigue is a valid response to the demands of navigating the world with an AuDHD brain, not a character flaw.

If you experience AuDHD fatigue, know that your exhaustion is real and understandable. By acknowledging the unique energetic costs involved, you can begin to prioritize the deep, restorative practices needed to sustain your well-being.