@DziadekMick@mstdn.social avatar

DziadekMick

@[email protected]

An autistic recovered alcoholic grandfather in his 70s, from Fenland originally but now a Londoner (and frequent Norfolker). Passionate Arsenal fan. Buddhist/Quaker. Trans supporter. Occasional bar stool professor of everything.

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theautisticcoach, to actuallyautistic
@theautisticcoach@neurodifferent.me avatar

What are some of my comrades' favorite scents?

Mine are lavender, vanilla, orange blossom, and pizza.

When you're feeling dysregulated, it's always good to keep something with it on hand to come back to center.

@actuallyautistic

DziadekMick,
@DziadekMick@mstdn.social avatar

@theautisticcoach @actuallyautistic Good advice to use smells to recentre. They are so powerful. I love to open a lid of ground coffee and take a deep breath.

Sidebar: A long time back, I used to buy aftershave from a barber shop in St James, London. I used to stay in there for much too long because they had a big jar of coffee beans for you to smell between sniffs of their fragrances to clear your nose. It felt like getting high with the mix of strong fragrances and the coffee.

DziadekMick,
@DziadekMick@mstdn.social avatar
sahat, to actuallyautistic
@sahat@c.im avatar

sometimes I read something on here a personal account or something political, that moves me. It often takes until the next day or even several days before I know why and what it is, that I would like to reply to that. most the time I don't, cus I can't find the original post anymore or because I assume, it's too late. Sometimes I then write up a long long post. About this issue and all the implications and my experience and so on.
That's just the way my brain functions. I can't help it. There seems to always be too much in it. Too many threads connecting too many things and too deep feelings. I wonder whether I should quit this alltogether and rather dump my hyperconnected brain's content into a blog. On the other hand, I love the community on here. All of this presents exactly the same in my offline life.

the @actuallyautistic community has helped me so much in trying all of this out, reflecting on it and receiving encouragement. In my initial unmasking phase I got a ton of flag from NT on my style of communication and the intensity of it. I knew I needed to learn and adjust.
I'm often way fast actually. All of these patterns and connected issues flash into my mind right away. But creating a bridge of communication takes time. Mastering the intensity and the volume of it. The impatience. The need to balance my physical.emotional mental energy finding ways to stim or otherwise relax that work. After decades of masking and suppressing some of the actual content I had to find a whole new way of expressing myself truthfully. With all of that extra ND energy and views included. It was rough at the beginning.
This space here was important to me in being able to have helpful and loving feedback and being able to take all of those baby steps. Thank you all.

DziadekMick,
@DziadekMick@mstdn.social avatar

@sahat @actuallyautistic

Aha! The old “should have” mind play. The point about this community is that we bring what we have. It’s all we can do. But our mind is always giving us advice on how it should be done. You’re doing fine here.

Like you, I am learning to express my self authentically rather than how NTs want me too. My biggest bugbear at the moment is that I prefer to move about as a character (my C3P0 walk deserves its own Tik-Tok channel).

I’m really glad you are here. ❤️

AutisticAdam, to actuallyautistic
@AutisticAdam@autistics.life avatar

When talking to autistic people, especially in the workplace or at school, be absolutely clear and unambiguous about instructions.

Especially don't leave anything unsaid, or to be assumed. If you do that there's a good chance it won't be done, because you didn't ask us to.

@actuallyautistic #actuallyautistic

DziadekMick,
@DziadekMick@mstdn.social avatar

@AutisticAdam @actuallyautistic The need to be clear and unambiguous is well demonstrated when a work group had a day go kart racing. Asking the guy who won the morning session and being told “I just drove everybody off the track” is not what an autistic person needs to hear as it gets him being removed from the track and not being allowed to drive.

AutisticAdam, to actuallyautistic
@AutisticAdam@autistics.life avatar

The autistic urge to reveal everything you know about a topic you like the second someone brings it up, feeling as though you may burst if you don’t, even though the person you’re speaking to probably has only a mild interest in the subject and will be shocked by your passion.

@actuallyautistic

DziadekMick,
@DziadekMick@mstdn.social avatar

@AutisticAdam @actuallyautistic The story of my life.

CynAq, to actuallyautistic
@CynAq@neurodifferent.me avatar

My biggest disagreement with life in general, and I now believe this is the fundamental difference between how my brain operates and how the average NT brain does, is how things are prioritized.

In my brain, things are prioritized per their material utility. If something has immediate utility, a visible benefit to someone, or if it's solving a pressing problem, they are on top of the importance list. It may sound like a callous way to put it but health related, life saving action is categorized in the "high material utility" bin for my brain.

In addition to this prioritization, I also tend to equate difficulty of a task with its perceived importance. "If something is very important, then the stakes must be high also" my brain says. On the flipside, if I know something is trivial to accomplish physically, it's not "important" in my brain.

In the life made by NTs for NTs, most "very important" things are trivial to the extreme. Bureaucratic paperwork, deadlines, remembering birthdays, most jobs are just mindless busywork to me, with no perceived importance whatsoever, but somehow they seem potent enough to stop the world in its tracks for the majority of people.

This creates enormous stress for me, and is responsible for most of my burnouts in my 50 year life. The dichotomy between my sense of priority and that of the world around me.

When I was still in my PhD program, the work I did, the information I and my team uncovered were the priority for me. The integrity of the work was paramount. Increasingly, through the feedback I received from my advisor, I started feeling like something was wrong and the real thing to focus on should have been how I marketed my research and my efforts rather than the work and the results themselves. This led to my burnout and me leaving before I defended my dissertation.

I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts on this topic. Do you also think your version of what's important is fundamentally different than the world's?

@actuallyautistic

DziadekMick,
@DziadekMick@mstdn.social avatar

@yourautisticlife @CynAq @actuallyautistic

I had certificates and diplomas. Not many but a few. With a rebel yell, I hung on my office wall a framed copy of my Certificate for winning the Under-16 shot put at school and nothing else. For a lot of my working time, it gained a few looks but when I made director, it was strongly suggested I take it down - some BS about respect. Screw that.

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DziadekMick,
@DziadekMick@mstdn.social avatar

@pathfinder @actuallyautistic Such a perceptive post. Thank you.

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DziadekMick,
@DziadekMick@mstdn.social avatar

@devxvda @theautisticcoach @actuallyautistic I can't think of one time when I've said fine. I don't think I was ever fine. Strangely I only remember using the word sarcastically. Later heard that it was mostly used in that strange way where it means the exact opposite, the positive word you can use when you're not feeling OK. In AA-speak, it's an acronym for Fucked-up, Insecure, Neurotic and Emotional.

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