Hello all,
This is my first post on here so will briefly introduce myself. Im Jake, 28, and im from Leicestershire. I work full time as a Bus Driver in Leicester city. I was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome when i was about 5 years old. My traits are probably most similar of many others with Aspergers, i like my routines, extremly stingy on what food i eat, and i also have social difficulties, which the last trait being is where i need some advice.
I am really attached to one of my close friends. This is to the point where usually i cannot go 2 hours without the need of having to contact him. Usually i worry of his whereabouts or what he is doing. If i dont hear back from him as well within a time period (usually say 20 minutes) i will start to panic. By 40 minutes, i can sometimes be having a meltdown. In my head i cant respect the fact he may be busy driving or with other people. Now this guy knows of my Aspergers well, he knows how it affects me to the point where he even came with me to my PIP assessment and provided information about me. He understands i panic if i dont hear from him, but i know i cant expect him to have his phone glued to his hand.
We've tried to work out coping strategies, such as making sure we have a set time for example to speak to each other, making sure i have a schedule of what im going to do to keep me ocupied or to the point where my friend activated his snapchat map location so i always knew where he was incase i did need him urgently. Id say some of these work, but then i still have days where i just go into total panic and i want to be with him or talk to him. I suppose the Covid situation at the moment does not help matters as my mind fills with total worry about it because of change and uncertanty.
My worry is, we had fell out earlier in the year because i think i got too much for him to deal with. I just dont want to fall out with him again simply because of my Aspergers and social difficulties. We've had a good friendship for many years and worked together in the same places for most of it too!
Has anybody else on here had a similar issue to me, and if anybody could offer some advice i would greatly appreciate it.