Socially awkward

I do exactly the same thing - I replay conversations again and again, then cringe when I realise I've said something a little bit odd (I was really stressed today because I'd had a few drinks after work on Friday night, so I've been obsessing over what I might have said and whether the mask dropped!).

In terms of the caterpillars, I say "you do you" :) You wanted to look at the caterpillars, so you looked at them. Harmless fun and it might have brightened his day to see a giant caterpillar (I'd have been interested, but I guess we might share some similar traits) :)

Want to start one of your lighthearted threads? I'll come along with some of my moments if you do :-)

I didn’t get this at all at first.  But now after rereading and thinking about it, I do this too.  Not standing in bushes looking at caterpillars!  Though now thinking about that I do similar, I’ll sit in a squat position staring at bugs or things for ages, and then it’s like the need to justify it.  Or not even that maybe.  Yeah I guess so actually.  Like sometimes sharing too much information for no real reason and then thinking probably just myself look more weird. 

I like this! ‘watermelon moments’  it sounds like a good name for a book, or a thread!

I never thought of that, but yes, that's an incredibly relatable moment! And a great name for them!

Oh yes. I'm going to call these "Watermelon Moments" after the scene in Dirty Dancing where Baby blurts out "I carried a watermelon" in response to someone asking how she was doing at the dance!

I guess it's not 100% specific to autism, but autism helps :-). I've had quite a few cringey ones in my lifetime.

@mouse2 and Miaow_Purr you are both very welcome :-)

Thank you so much! I will look it up too and will have a look at his website.

Thank you Kitsun. I'll look that up

Of course! The book is by Daniel Wendler and it's called 'improve your social skills'. He also has a website which has online coaching etc. The author has Aspergers himself so the book is written in a way that is easy to understand, even the humour! He studied social skills for ten years then decided to help the rest of us by sharing the knowledge that he acquired.

Do you mind sharing what that social skills book was? It sounds like something I might find useful. Quite agree that there is nothing wrong with people being who they are!

There might be others - those are just two I happen to know.

I expect people learn a lot from you - which is a really good thing. And even if you replay things afterwards, it may be that those people actually find you a really interesting person to talk to. Anyone who is nice themselves will also admire your uniqueness - the world would be so boring if everyone were the same.

I've just realised that I didn't answer your original question - yes, I think it is 'an autism thing to do' - I've now read so many times about people finding out that they are autistic and then going over their entire lives in the context of that new information (I still find things popping into my head from years ago and thinking 'oh, that's why that was so difficult / went wrong etc').

Yes I do replay social interactions in my head. Much less so since I studied a good social skills book though as I feel that I 'know' how to do social interactions properly now, when I can be bothered! Who knows if I actually am doing them right but as long as I 'feel' that i am then all is well in my world! I am oblivious to the max :-) You were just being you, nothing wrong with that! It's the sort of thing that I'd do too, then realise mid way through that I might appear odd, hide the caterpillar or other object behind my back and do a not so subtle change of conversation!

Love the songs. I never knew there were songs about caterpillars. I talk alot about gardening or bugs as that's my 'thing' I always ramble to people

No he hasent finished at all. I'm now clicking the links thank you

Oh, this has a familiar ring to it! (Not caterpillar specific - although personally I think caterpillars are pretty cool!)

I often find myself feeling the need to explain myself to NTs, but I become self-conscious once I start doing it, which makes me seem/sound more awkward - and then afterwards I reflect on how awkwardly/strangely/ramble-y I must have seemed.

But then, if your neighbour had finished telling you his news, there wouldn't have been anything wrong with you then telling him why you were in a bush and talking about caterpillars. So you weren't necessarily awkward at all.

I'm now going to have these two songs stuck in my head!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RslgSbshURI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzxJ5YvYfx4