Autism and Shutdown, Low Energy

I answer to my autism. I have to continually monitor my activities and interactions. I have to be aware and observation of the subtle signs of impending exhaustion, a heaviness in the limbs, mental sluggishness, slowed almost slurred speech and listlessness, not wanting to do anything but sit or lay down.
If I fail to acknowledge these first symptoms and continue my everyday activities, I fall into shutdown whereby I do the bare minimum of self care; I can sleep for over 20 hours a day for days at a time and I frequently fall into selective mutism and my verbal center stops working complete.
Autistic Shutdown, AS, to me, feels like a waking coma. I'm not helpless within myself but I am helpless in my ability to communicate and interact externally. A low level prison without any bars and no one can see me, see my predicament.
I used to both fear and hate AS. I ran to doctors looking for answers to my days of fatigue. All tests come back normal. It wasn't until I found other autistics in fb groups that I realized AS is a very normal part of being an Autistic. Sigh. Just because it's normal doesn't make it any easy to acknowledge that I'm not always in control of my own life and what I want to do.
Big events, day trips, multiple appointments all have to be well thought out with lots of breaks and downtime. I need to keep track of every event and carefully schedule each appointment so that I'll have the maximum functionality, productivity and try and avoid the AS.
It's taken me some serious self talk and time, that with age comes wisdom thingy, to accept the fact that this is simply who I am and a daily part of this autistic life. It's useless, counterproductive to hate or be upset with things I'm hardwired for and cannot change.
I accept that AS are a major factor in my waking life. It's just who I am.
I've even gotten better at helping people, friends understand it. I felt..gosh, embarrassed, ashamed, faulty maybe and I'd try and hide the AS as much as possible. Just the past week I've chosen to explain it...It Is Still hard to explain and acknowledge, a bit uncomfortable but that's cause I'm not used to talking about.
I guess the page has turned and this really is a new chapter...Accepting My Autistic Shutdowns.
I done good!