An observation from the early-morning blues

[Jeff T]

I had a long spell in between being asleep and fully awake. Like a dream, it has now faded into a vaguer. amorphous chain of thoughts. If you watched Star Trek TOS, this is sort of like when Dr. McCoy proclaims that attaching Spock's brain is 'child's play', but later is very unsure due to the knowledge dissipating.

I was equating how autism and other mental difficulties where kind of comparable to a prison. This may well have occurred to you back when you were a teenager, but only occurred to me at age 63. The below are simply my thoughts. Disagreements and insights are welcome, You can 'tear me a new one' if I have it coming.

With 'nature' / neurodevelopmental issues such as Autism and ADhD, we were born into the prison. How the person deals with, and is capable of understanding this set of cards determines how restrictive the prison is. Also the severity of the 'offense' we are innocent of knowing.

The nuture set of issues- such as some personality disorders and the like, are prisons that the potential prisoner had a much greater genetic (nature) chance of, but that other humans (nuture) helped to shove them into? My certainty of this is pretty low, though.

I'm not sure of schizophenia, bi-polar, schizoid and schizoaffective disorders. I'm not knowledgeable. Maybe a different combo of nature/nuture? Or one or the other?

NPD and Anti-social disorders seems something of outliers. Definitely a prison, but one in which the prisoner is either not aware of, or thinks that they've found a way out of.
Unfortunately their behaviours can imprison innocent people in their orbit with a different sort of prison, one that can be hard to escape.

The 'nature' prisons are life sentences, although many have found the way for the restrictions to get a lot looser. With autism many have less ability in this, with a sentence of Solitary.
ADhDers often get a reduced sentence later on, in the form of stimulant medications.

The Depression and Anxiety prisons are can be easier to be 'pardoned'? Many neurotypicals also get sentenced for short stints in these prisons. There are many "repeat offenders'.

Maybe I'd better put my helmet on.

 

[Outdated]

I never saw it as a prison. I always saw myself as having a lot of advantages that most people don't, but people always try to attach strings to me, weighing me down, slowing me up, trying to hold me back. A bit like trying to swim while fully dressed.

My father kept telling me "A rolling stone gathers no moss." but I always saw that as a good thing. I never wanted to be a mouldy old stone stuck in the mud.

 

[Jeff T]

I never saw it as a prison. I always saw myself as having a lot of advantages that most people don't, but people always try to attach strings to me, weighing me down, slowing me up, trying to hold me back. A bit like trying to swim while fully dressed.

My father kept telling me "A rolling stone gathers no moss." but I always saw that as a good thing. I never wanted to be a mouldy old stone stuck in the mud.

You have a good outlook and abilities!
You seem to have navigated with autism pretty well.

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

I think that is one way of looking at it.

My preference is I’ve been dealt a hand of cards - everyone is. How I play my hand is up to me.

 

[Outdated]

My preference is I’ve been dealt a hand of cards - everyone is. How I play my hand is up to me.

That's the most important bit of advice I ever received in my life, from my grandfather when I was 8 and going through a rough time:

"Don't go dreaming in the realms of What If, you can get lost in there. You play with the cards you've been dealt."

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

That's the most important bit of advice I ever received in my life, from my grandfather when I was 8 and going through a rough time:

"Don't go dreaming in the realms of What If, you can get lost in there. You play with the cards you've been dealt."

I so wish we had a emoji thing that was just a heartfelt smile.

 

[Peter Morrison]

The bottom line with ASD issues is that you need to understand that they exist and you are basically on your own to manage the difficulties. Simply put, you may want to try to be a star at something academic, sports related, or win awards at a science fair. Trying is great, but you have to be very good at losing without letting it overtake your sense of confidence. Being good at something takes a lot of training. In training, you learn failure. It's only failure if you are competing. We all compete - sharing classroom test scores, trying to beat school records for hits or baskets, and wanting not to lose. I don't know anybody who is good at everything, so accepting "loss" is necessary. The sad thing is setting yourself up for another disappointment. Too many disappointments make us feel weak and useless. I had trouble reading because I did not know how to maintain concentration. You can't just read the words, you have to follow the meaning. Failure caused me to anticipate problems as I read. That's not the right place for your head. Continue to do your best, but understand what might be in the way. For me, it was the anxiety of anticipating failure. I always thought that I had to do things perfectly from the start. Too many failures just confirmed by inability. I only learned to manage my anxiety as an adult, and certain aspects of order and organization had to be respected. I needed special handling in school, but I never got it. I didn't understand my problem so I couldn't communicate what was wrong with me. I was on my own and had to learn the hard way. Not being able to understand what was wrong was like a prison. I couldn't reach any of the resources that could have helped me understand my ASD. I was diagnosed as dyslexic when I was about 10 years old. I didn't understand what that meant either. Hidden factors that interfere with development can confuse you and make you feel lost. There are too many invisible road blocks that you never learn to identify and manage. They are always there.