Structure: What does your daily routine look like?

[Aidan49]

Do you have it set down to the minute? Or are you more flexible? Or maybe something in between?

 

[onlything]

I used to have every day planned to the minute but it caused much critique from family I lived with at the time. I can't seem to come back to that calm now, too much anxiety over someone making drama about it again. I'm coming back to it slowly since it was the most comfortable period of my life, that routine I would create, but it's a slow process. Right now days are mostly divided into bigger chunks of morning, afternoon, evening etc.

 

[Progster]

When I was a child/teenager, I had a big thing about eating meals at a set time and if the meal was late by even 5 minutes, I would become extremely anxious, and if it was half an hour late, I'd get extremely upset and even have a meltdown. I think that this was definitely an autistic trait.

Now, I'm not so bad, I'm much more flexible meaning that I won't meltdown if my meal is half an hour late, but I still want to follow a routine and get anxious if I can't stick to it. That's how I cope with stress... by gaining control over these aspects of my life.

 

[Gritches]

It's a bigger deal to me that things happen in the order they're supposed to; the exact time in inconsequential.

Fo' instance: When I get home from work, I need to lay down for a bit, THEN eat, THEN bathe, THEN brush, etc.

It keeps me clean, fed, and well-rested. Without my routine being in an order, I'll just end up omitting steps like eating or brushing.

 

[Streetwise]

flexible is unbearable as I'm permanently sleep deprived my routine is geared towards trying to sleep

 

[Nihil]

More flexible, I switch between practicing music, reading, and playing video games.

 

[OlLiE]

wake up
open window
brush teeth
wash hands
make coffee
make 2 butter and jam sandwiches
pour a cup of oj
have breakfast
dishes and cleanup
shower
job hunt / play video game
buy ingredients for lunch
cook/eat/clean
prepare bike
go for a cycle of 1-4 hrs - shout at the morons on the road
bike maintenance / clean bike
shower
buy dinner ingredients
cook/eat/clean
video game
brush teeth
go to sleep

preferably with minimal interaction with other people

rinse repeat

 

[ZebraAutismo]

On a collage day it’s wake up at 7:15, eat breakfast, get dressed (in a particular order), bush teeeth, put drinks and crisps in bag and wait for taxi driver to call and then go in taxi.

Before lesson starts at collage I will either chat with my friends or have some alone time with my music.

 

[2205]

I used to have very strict schedule when I was younger, but recently I just like to do things in specific order and it's not so much about the time. Only meal and snack times are quite on time (meals 7.30am, 1pm, 7.30pm and snacks 11am, 5pm, 9pm) with about half an hour of flexibility, meaning that I get anxious when they're more than half an hour late. Morning and evening routines are the most important to me, during the day I'm quite flexible (besides lunch time).

 

[Mr Allen]

Get up (usually about 8 AM)
Have breakfast
Go in the bath (Shower at my Parents')
Clean teeth, get carer to give me a shave if required
Watch TV for a bit
If it's a quiet day with no plans till carer comes, go back to bed for a bit
Have lunch and a coffee
Go out with carer to do whatever, Pictures, Meadowhall or Swimming
Come back home
Cook tea
Watch The Chase, then Neighbours
Go on PC
Make a coffee, phone Parents
Watch more TV or go on Xbox
Phone Parents again to say good night
Go to bed

 

[Tom]

 

[Lydia Z]

View attachment 45002

Your picture shows how I feel when my children are on break from school.

 

[Theta.G]

wake up... stare at a screen for a few hours.
Be reluctant to go down and eat because one of my roommates is a vile person.
Lose a few pounds...
Finally go down and eat then get stared at while eating.
Escape the awkward bs and go back to staring at screens
and then... sleep.

 

[Ezra]

I don't have a regimented routine. But the routine consists of x amount of things and I don't like it interrupted or broken. A lot of the time I'm on "autopilot".

Routine consists mainly of stuff on my computer. Reading, music, posting, tv, movies, news, gaming. I get taken out for a walk everyday. Sometimes just around the neighborhood or town. Sometimes through the woods or along the river or along the beach.

 

[Moomin]

Do you follow a structure and routine in your day? What happens is something doesn’t work the way it usually goes?

I used to be rigid in my routine following when I was younger. Not so good at handling them when the routine went off the plan. It was one of the traits that was heavily emphasized on during my diagnosis. It wasn’t until universal when I developed the more lax attitude to my routine. Not that I didn’t have one but if something happened to change it, I wouldn’t meltdown as I used to do. Now, it’s a bit of a mix of the old and new. I can make a routine, follow it to the plan and depends on the day or mood, I can make it without meltdown. Other days might not be so lucky. Especially if it’s a very difficult surprise situation. Obviously, you can’t dictate yourself because life does have that habit of surprises but I always seem to feel more relaxed if I have no change in my routine. It’s safe. Does that make sense? Maybe...I hope it does.

 

[Slim Jim]

 

[AprilR]

I always have to make to do lists otherwise i get too engrossed in whatever i am watching or reading.

 

[Zhantera]

I have mine planned by the half hour or hour increment.
I have it on a whiteboard as well as alexa reminders.
I find I need it, if I have a lot of down time, I'm prone to maladaptive stimming and anxiety.

 

[Jeepcarpenter]

I like to know majority of what’s coming at least two days prior to plan and account for, mismanage time extensively due to a few sensory issues and distractions dealing with clients or workplace drama, or unforeseen problems because I’m the go-to to solve most problems that arise and adapt easily to various situations and versatile in capabilities.. but suffer immensely if routine is broken, not daily or even hourly routine but simply the routine of any action run like the script of a computer, micro routines I guess.. or subroutines even.. I -need- things to follow my routines or I lose track of information or memory or sometimes any knowledge of.. the process wasn’t finished, I get lost every time, no matter how simple. Just thought it was how I was taught or that I was detail-oriented.. maybe OCD at times even (apparently I am actually, who knew).. even when I have a complete meltdown and blitz clean the house it has to be a certain process every time, every task is essentially made for autopilot as someone stated previously, I assume to try to make sequential thinking not as restrictive and confining by freeing capacity limitations, at least for me anyways, lol.

 

[Regretfully Diagnosed]

Since being diagnosed as autistic and realizing that autistics tend to be routine-based people I have made profound efforts to never have a routine. I plan nothing. Everything is spur of the moment and I force myself to do the most uncomfortably unusual things all the time.
This is exhausting, but I feel the need to do it to validate things to myself. It's a big struggle I deal with, to avoid any and all typically autistic behaviors, and it's honestly wearing me down a lot.