When things are out of my control, I often want to catastrophize about what could happen in a situation. I overthink all these possible scenarios or want to do things that can seem irrational in nature to the point where my anxiety kicks in and I want to run away from a situation. While this has gotten better for me, when it happens, it can still be one of the hardest challenges to manage.

There is no lie that as autistic individuals, we find comfort in the things that we feel that we have control of. However, the world does not often happen that way. Things happen that are not in anyone’s control. When things seem as if they are not going the way that I feel that they should be going, it can be easy for me to catastrophize about all the things that can go wrong in the process or all the things that could be happening that I feel are against me. It feels as if I do not have control of the situation at hand and that it can be the worst possible thing that is happening at that moment.

But it is my brain telling me all these things in my head with my anxiety being placed in overdrive thinking the worst possible thing that could happen to me as if there is nothing safe about what is happening in that moment. It can also be challenging to see the good in the situation that I am experiencing or that I am really overthinking and putting things out of proportion. It is just my brain that is overreacting and that it isn’t as bad as it is seeming to be, That I need to be patient with myself and just be kind to myself in that moment.

Although in my body my senses are heightened and there is a part of me that wants to react in an unhealthy manner rather than respond in a healthy way, my brain at times will not allow me to do so. It can only think of ways that are going to relieve me of the distress that I am experiencing at that very moment and cannot allow me to breathe or find a better coping mechanism at that very moment.

In my soundest of minds, it can be hard to realize that I just need to relax, but I am continuing to see that I need to take care of myself and at times just do the simplest of things to be able to cope with the situation at hand. I know that there are moments where I need to be strong and get through the tough times and by just taking a look at the present moment and being able to see things in perspective so that I can see that I am indeed overreacting and that I need to not get my anxiety out of control, rather work at ways to counteract the stress that I am experiencing at that very moment.

What happens, happens in life, there are things that are going to make me overreact more than others and they likely are going to be things that I cannot control, but what I can control is the way that I respond and work towards being able to cope with the challenges that I am experiencing at that very moment so they do not get worse than what they are.