A trait that an autistic person has is the difficulty in making decisions when the opportunity is given for them to do so. It can be hard for us to lock in on a final decision without understanding possible barriers or ramifications that may provide to us and those around us.
When we are an adult, we have responsibilities that we must engage in, especially if they allow us to have the life we want to have. However, there are times when I recognize that I just need to take a day off and regroup for the purpose of my mental health.
As a person who is autistic and has other challenges, I can only take care of myself as much as I desire to utilize the skills and tools at my disposal. You can have all the skills at your disposal, but if you don’t use them, they have no value and nothing will ever change.
The things that autistic adults such as myself do when we are faced with the challenges of getting through the tough times has astonished me. It has shown me that no matter what I face, I can get through even the toughest of times, even when I fall rough.
Sometimes in life, whether we like it or not, we need to see the reality in ourselves. The damage that has been done, that we need to repair it and work toward being a better person, even if in that moment we do not see the need to, we must understand that facing reality many times prevents us from having drastic consequences.
On this day of age, we hear this new buzz-word, Self-Advocacy. I am always a firm believer in advocating for yourself and in fact I at times am considered one, however there is an appropriate way to do it and it is important to understand that all needs should be considered when doing so.
As I am getting older in life and life becomes more real, I am slowly understanding what the term adulting is and that as long as I am able I must do the things in life that others take for granted, as many neurotypicals can face the reality easier, it can sometimes be challenging for the autistic individual.
Being an autistic adult, you can have all coping skills at your disposal, but until your brain gets the signal to employ them, they are useless. The brain will continue in the negative state again and again until you deploy them to their benefit.
Throughout life living in my parents’ home, I can remember being told to have a sense of pride and ownership in the tasks I was responsible for to take care of myself. After having a rumspringa of reluctance and it backfiring for some time, I am starting to be heading in the track of having pride and ownership in the simplest of things.
In recent weeks, with the systems and the world resuming some state of normalcy in my neck of the woods, I have also gotten back to some sense of normalcy and understand more that with adulting comes the importance of having a routine, regimen and ultimately a purpose.
Being an autistic adult in my late-thirties, it can be hard to realize just that. Oftentimes, I want to bring my challenges and concerns to the spotlight and make it all about me in a very immature kind of way as if I deserve to have the negative attention and others, especially those in my close circle deserve the anguish I lash out at them.
One of the hardest things when it comes to living my life is having to do things that adults do. While these sometimes may have a more intensive degree of intensity for an autistic person, many times it just takes getting out the door, and getting off to a right start.
A few weeks ago, while watching TV, I discovered the term deflection. It is a defense mechanism that people use to take the blame off of themselves. When they are deflecting, they are trying to make themselves feel less bad for their wrongdoings. This likely happens due to past experiences of being in trouble for things.
As I am learning more and more what is the culprit of my being autistic, I am learning that things that many neurotypicals consider as “normal tasks” like running errands for example, can be intensified because of being overloaded with excessive stimuli and other environs.
For a majority of my life I have had periods of ruminating thoughts enter my headspace. Like last week’s adulting blog post on Intrusive thoughts, the intrusive thoughts become ruminating thoughts when the “loop” over and over in your headspace non-stop.
Having the comorbidity of Anxiety alongside being autistic can provide many challenges for me. One of those challenges I constantly battle is intrusive thoughts. These thoughts often pop into my headspace without warning and at times loop very much to the point they bring me down.
Being an autistic adult, it can be hard to recognize that you have to know how you are regulating your mood. This can play a part in having a sense of it when having to interact with others and recognize when you need to take a break and take care of yourself before moving on.
I had always practiced what is known today as masking for autistic individuals before the term was coined in modern years. Bringing the term to light ensures that the reality of the issue as it relates to the day to day operations of an autistic person.
Being an adult means that there are obligations in life that must be endured. Whether or not, there are just some things in life that we as adults cannot get out of because of our need to be present for many purposes.
One of my biggest struggles that I have had in my time being on my own is when I have to “call it a night.” My brain is always flowing with ideas of things to do and see throughout the day and whether or not my body sometimes thinks it needs to shut down, I often want to fight my body and not shut down for the day.
Dustin's Dynasty 