How varied is your free time?

[Raggamuffin]

I feel like I live off a set menu. There is some variation of course, but whenever I'm asked what I'm doing for the weekend I always just say "the usual". Often this is a conversation ender, which might be a good thing as I don't think I'd admit to anyone at work that I smoke weed. You get a pretty good vibe for who may or probably doesn't smoke it. People here are definitely drinkers.

I find my free time is very routine. I wonder if yours is the same? Creature of habit etc. possibly to a much higher degree than someone who isn't on the spectrum.

My typical weekend is as follows:

• Up between 5 and 6am (same as my weekdays).
• Breakfast.
• Wake n bake.
• PC gaming, chat with friends whilst watching a film or a few episodes of a TV show.
• Then I'll go cycling and have a smoke in the middle of nowhere.
• Come home - PC gaming, chat with friends whilst watching a film or a few episodes of a TV show.
• Then I'll go staffing and have a smoke.
• Come home - PC gaming, chat with friends whilst watching a film or a few episodes of a TV show.
• Then I'll go for a night time walk and have a smoke.

I like to wind down in the evenings with everything off except my speaker and music. Then do my swaying. Well, I do my swaying all day long in front of the computer. But it's really nice to do with my eyes closed in a dark room. I just drift off into my imagination.

I try to keep it to no more than 4 smokes per day on a weekend. Even then, I roll with very small amounts and use no tobacco. Compared to friends and how much they put in a smoke, it's 3 or 4 of mine would compare to 1 joint of theirs. I was never a fan of using lots. It's a fine balance and if you have too much, it just feels wasteful and too intense. Still, it's smoking at the end of the day - regardless of how much I might put in it, it's a past time that'll probably bite back later in life.

I might mix up the order of when I staff or walk etc. but it's a typical back and forth between PC > exercise > PC > exercise. I realised I had to have screen breaks and the best change of scenery is to get some fresh air and get my heart rate up.

I know that every person I dated grew rather frustrated at my lack of variety in my free time. It's not that I don't mix things up, but if I can - I always return to my usual routine as quickly as possible.

How much routine or variation do you like?

Ed

 

[Luca]

I don’t have free time. Lol
My entire life revolves around my dogs. I am single and live by myself in a house with four dogs. I’m passionately dedicated to high-level training and conditioning but also want my dogs to enjoy themselves. This is all I do. And it keeps my mental and physical health in check too

 

[Raggamuffin]

That sounds awesome. I love animals so much, but I worry about them too. So I'm not sure if I will get pets when I get my own place.

Ed

 

[Binary_Bark]

Free time is an illusion and order, doubly so.

Schedule set-up works for me, works well as a dis-organiser.
Much of my time is spent similarly, the free time is for my special interests.

 

[Misery]

I dont have much of a schedule at all.

I know for a lot of people on the spectrum, routine is super important, but I tend to be the opposite: I'm very chaotic rather than ordered. Routine just drives me up the wall. I'm prone to random impulse decisions.

My tendency is to simply do whatever I feel like, whenever I happen to feel like it. Well, within reason. If I'm having a day where I'm particularly sore there are a lot of options that I wont/cant do (happens a lot during this time of year, the weather changes wreck me).

But when that's NOT happening? Who knows what I'll do on any given day.

Gaming is my main hobby, with my PC here, and the most frequent thing I do, but even with that I dont sit still well for extended sessions. And I've got my other hobbies that I'm into as well. Also, driving. I must go SOMEWHERE at least once each day to keep from going mad. Where exactly will I go? WHEN will I do it? Will I even have a destination? (I often dont.) Who knows?

And of course, my equally chaotic dogs are a factor. I cant exactly schedule their needs and wants, and I'm the sort of dog owner who will just follow their every whim all the time (seriously they're about as spoiled as it's possible to be. The big dog, Cooper, has his own recliner. Yes, really.)

 

[unperson]

I'm old so I don't need or want to be doing a lot. PC gaming, gardening which I quite enjoy, chores and shopping, that's about it. Occasional walks either on the beach or around the local football oval. The nice thing about being old is you're not expected to be doing a lot. If I get cabin fever from being at home too much, I'll go for a drive.

 

[Bolletje]

I don't really stick to a schedule during my time off. On work days I try to cram in a bit of exercise before cooking dinner and eating it, then it's usually straight off to bed. On my days off I usually play video games, do grocery shopping and do a lot of cooking and baking, but I do those when I feel like it.

 

[Suzette]

My husband and I were talking about this yesterday, that we miss our routines.

It started back in July when we had to return to the U.S. for family matters. We have not had our routines since. We returned home to Mexico in October, had a very brief visit and are now back in the U.S. dealing with more family matters. Since we don't live here we are staying with family and doing our best to stick to their routines as good guests. We hope to be home by December 1st.

In general we are very quiet people. Most of our time is simply reading, doing nessisary boat maintenence, cooking meals etc. Frankly, we are dull and uninteresting people and we like it like that!

 

[Raggamuffin]

What sort of boat do you have @Suzette

Ed

 

[Richelle-H]

@Raggamuffin, I do not believe I have ever had a fixed anything, although when you closely examine anyone's day, there will be a great deal of repetition, but I find that there is also a good deal of variance as well.

Now, the one constant in my life, thanks to the attack of arthritis in every joint in my body is medication. I carry a vape pin with me that contains a 1/2 gram of resin that is 85% THC and I take a hit off it as needed (I reject the use of opiates for pain as I was in the hospital for a long time and the opiates I was injected with for pain did little for me on any level). That comes closest to routine, as it happens every day even if there is nothing much else that comes close to your description of your typical weekend..

The definition of routine that I am applying to my answer is:

2a: adherence to a pattern of behavior characterized by mechanical repetition<most of us are blind—made so by custom and routine — C. S. Kilby>

I will admit that I spend a great deal of time on either my phone or my computer, both while watching or binging a movie or TV show. I am retired, so every day is like any weekend for those still engaged with a normal life. Once you retire, there is a great deal of time to fill, and I try to vary it as much as possible.

I therefore see a difference in each and every day but with little islands of obsessiveness, such as game apps on my phone or checking various websites I visit regularly (although not necessarily daily).

Oh, and I bet I do a lot more Cannabis than you. There was a common phrase back in the seventies and eighties referencing smoking clear (i.e. doing so much weed at a party that the effects faded into the background and you felt normal [even though you were not]). That is how it is with me every day. Anyone unaccustomed to the effects (physical and mental) of the demon weed, would not be able to function doing the levels I customarily use. They would, quite possibly, wind up losing motor control and find themselves crawling on the floor/ground like some oddly shaped reptile.

There is a lot of routine in everyone's day, but order is something so alien to me on so many different levels that there can be wide variance, indeed, in my activities. The single constant is my inhalation of product that carries large amounts of THC to my brain for pain management.

I think I would rather be naturally pain free, but at my age there is no possibility of that anymore.

 

[Raggamuffin]

At my peak I smoked 1/4 of an ounce a week. Some people I know think that's laughable compared to how much they smoke. The heaviest smoker I know is smoking an ounce a week.

At present an ounce is lasting me 4 months.

Smoking clear is an interesting term. I went to a house party once. I only knew one person there, and she was the host and milling about all over the place all night, plus trying to win the affections of a guy who was at the party. As such, I setup camp in the conservatory and polished off a 1/4 ounce in one night. I was just chain smoking them whilst I was drawing in my sketchbook.

Didn't really interact with anyone that night, although people were often commenting and laughing that there was this guy who hadn't left the sofa and was smoking everyone under the table.

I peaked within an hour or so of that party. After that, smoking more wasn't doing anything. By the end of it, it was light outside again, and most people were asleep. So I just slipped out and drove home.

Ed

 

[Aspychata]

Due to things outside of my control, l stopped working. I would like to work if l can find a small office with liitle drama but guess l must wait for a period of time to pass.

It seems l am waiting again, even in my time off, l am waiting. In two years, l plan to live with someone when they retire to this state. All my free time should be spent down sizing but lately l bought plants and prune and fret over them. Also l have kicked my gym routine up a notch. I go if l feel l can block out any unwanted male attention. My chores basically revolve in how much l can ignore those around me. Lol

Stay free from weed. I have met heavy smokers and decided that it distorted their thinking. My priorities get messed up also, not to forget the legalities of it.

 

[Raggamuffin]

I'm quite surprised how varied everyone's free time is. A bit like with how much time I dedicate to stimming - I assumed that was a fairly normal thing.

Ed

 

[Progster]

My routine is probably a real bore for most people. After work, I'm exhausted and I don't have much energy for anything else. I do some chores, check certain websites like this one but also music ones, listen to music, then in the evening I eat, watch a couple of documentaries while sipping a glass of wine.

Apart from alcohol in strict moderation and coffee, I don't do recreational drugs. Unlike most people here, I don't play video games. I don't really have a social life.

At the weekend, I go out somewhere for a walk, or go foraging. There really aren't many options as far as activities are concerned in the small rural town where I live, very little going on. It's no wonder that so many young people leave the area.

 

[Sherlock77]

My weekends can be whatever, but there are some constants

I often start my weekend with a radio show I enjoy listening to on Friday night

Over the summer there were two different classic car cruise nights I would attend more often than not, both on the weekend

Saturday can vary with me, an event sometimes, or just a walk, but usually involving photography

Sunday morning for me is church at 10:30, and I often go to a local flea market in the afternoon, and typically have a visit with a friend later in the afternoon... Sunday is probably the most routine day for me...

 

[Ken]

I rarely have any free time. I try, as best I can, to maintain a schedule because being off schedule is very stressful for me.

I am "retired", but some of the clients where I used to work found me, so in a way I'm still working.

Upon retiring I started my own business (Electric Perfection) to do the kind of work I have always dreamed of, but could not do in a commercial business setting. That also keeps me busy as well as two books I'm trying to write. I think I am now busier and more occupied than before I retired. Sometimes I think I have overloaded myself!

 

[Suzette]

What sort of boat do you have @Suzette

Ed

It is a Cheoy Lee Off Shore 38. A sailboat.

This is our boat from when we bought her. We have added a stainless steel rail and an arch with more solar so she looks different now.

 

[Ken]

It is a Cheoy Lee Off Shore 38. A sailboat.

This is our boat from when we bought her. We have added a stainless steel rail and an arch with more solar so she looks different now.
View attachment 72061

Awesome!!

 

[Judge]

I'm retired. The only consideration I really have now is money- not time.

The limitations one encounters when they are on a fixed-income.

 

[Suzette]

I'm retired. The only consideration I really have now is money- not time.

The limitations one encounters when they are on a fixed-income.

I know exactly what you mean. Sometimes a fixed income is like being the protagonist in a dystopian novel. "The Wrinkle Games"