Feeling like a mess and a loser...

I have done two things that are wrong because my autistic brain has told me to do and it will be fine, but it was not and I am very sorry for it. 
The first one that my sister needed colouring in paper because she did not have any and would need something to do to whilst being off the wi-fi (she was not allowed to be on because others were using Zoom which causes wi-fi quality to decrease). I had some blank colouring in pages from a journal I had a few years ago but never finished, so I gave them to her. But this was a journal when I was going through a bad time (not anymore) that I crossed out  all the lines and ripped up the worst pages so she could not see them, and I was happy to finally get rid of it. But I did not think that my family would read them especially since it was so old and crossed out. But they did and although they said they were not having a go at me when they questioned why I would give pages to my sister to colour in (it was an accident that I should have thought about in hindsight), but I made a mistake later on and they used it to hang over me by suggesting that I am not a good person and I made them want to kill themselves. It was a complete accident and I am so sorry for it, I don't know what to do to make it right.
The second thing I did that was wrong was that today I did not realise that the postman had arrived until the door made a noise, but I did not want to disturb my parents when they were in a meeting, as this has annoyed them in the past (people walking around noisily whilst meetings were going on). I also assumed that the postman would leave the stuff at the door as that has happened to my parcels in the past, but they left a card saying pick it up tomorrow which I was not aware that they had done until it was too late. Now they are angry at me for it because they think it was done out of laziness (when it was not), and that I did not just apologise. I did apologise but I also wanted to explain because they did not like it in the past when I just apologised without explaining and now I am confused and guilty. 
I don't know what to do. I am so fed up of explaining the ways my autistic brain works to non-autistic people, and I fear these will become reasons to throw me out. 

Parents
  • Hello, i'm sorry you're having a bad time.  I have similar problems like the ones above when i do things out of the best (most logical) intentions with well thought through consequences etc, but someone gets angry - then i get stuck trying to explain - and they argue saying i am making excuses.  Then they use some blocking tactic to "not hear " my explanation.  I can feel stuck for a long time in this state. So - first off, I really hear you.

    As I am not caught up in your emotional state, i can be more cold and objective. So i know that this is gonna be hard:  but can you say: 

    It was a complete accident and I am so sorry for it, I don't know what to do to make it right.

    to your parents?  or even ask "what can I do to make it right?"  this shows that you want to make it right - and they might actually realise they are being angry with you in a useless way because they don't give you a chance to make it right. 

    Maybe practise saying it to the mirror then say it to them when you're comfortable with it.  

    Regarding the postman , I don't even know what to say. It was done with good intentions. And perhaps semi explain rather than lots of detail: " I can see why you thought I didn't bother, but actually I did it from good intentions. ".  if they want to know more about those intentions they can ask. 

    Sometimes we need to try and shut down the opportunities to make a conflict and that can be better than the perfect explanation (even though justice has not been done, a big conflict has been avoided). So you can meet one of your important needs, but  have to sacrifice one of the other needs you have. 

    Howe does this sound? I have to try very hard with these kinds of thing myself. 

  • Thank you for understanding, I'm sorry that you have to go through this as well. I get the advice you're giving but I do not think that they would like me saying 'I don't know what to do to make it right' because they expect me to fully know what I am doing all the time, which for me feels like they want me to be a functioning autistic person in a neurotypical world. 

  • Yes, I know what you mean . I also edited my comment more now, because my IP address is dynamic and it logs on and off this site.   So i always have to post a bit then add more if it's a long post otherwise I lose everything i've typed..  There now I'm explaining everything too :-)

  • Hi,

    That's okay. I really appreciate that you are trying to help, and I'm really sorry if I came across as harsh. 

    Thank you for explaining about the shared victory, I will look at Giraffe Language and the weblink that you have sent me. 

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