Published on 12, July, 2020
Does anyone else really struggle with Christmas or find it too overwhelming?
I love Christmas day with my family but I get very nervous about it in advance and can't stand the pressure of a day where I feel we all have to be happy. Also, I can't stand the build up. I hate all the endless Christmas songs in shops and the fact that everyone tells me I have to look forward to Christmas and it has to be this big amazing thing. I don't understand why, I mean it happens every year its not a novelty. I have always struggled with anything people tell me I have to enjoy, I automatically feel so much pressure then that I cant enjoy it and I can't cope. Christmas is that times 100, society and everyone telling me I have to enjoy it and be happy, i cant cope with the pressure.
Also I hate the greed of Christmas, everyone just out for what they can get. I hate the crowds and the people barging past you in shops to get more for themselves. I dont understand the point of giving cards to people you hardly speak to all year or giving presents that people dont really want just for the sake of it.
I really hate the commercialism and the endless adverts telling you you cant enjoy yourself unless you spend loads of money you dont have on stuff you dont need just to make these companies richer
I really struggle with the sensory overload of all the noise and decorations in shops and the fact that you cant escape it, whereever you go its just Christmas stuff everywhere in your face and it is such an overload for me.
Also, I cant tell anyone any of this or they just make me feel like a grinch. It feels like your not allowed to say you dont enjoy it
Im a Christian so i love the meaning of Christmas ( I realise that might not be the case for everyone) and I love spending time with my family but thats about it.
I always have a complete breakdown just before Christmas every year, regular as clockwork
Sorry if I sound like a party pooper but I just wondered if anyone else out there felt like me? Is this an autistic thing or is it just me
You're likely to encounter a lot of Christmas promotion on TV now. I don't watch TV and I feel like Christmas is a distant thing. It struck me that just eliminating consuming TV for a few decades has made Christmas seem far far away.
Thanks, I try to explain to my wife, but there is only so much that NT people can understand. she is very good and has told me that she always listens, but obviously doesn’t fully understand.
Unwilling, quite often.Telling hard truth seems almost as difficult for NT's as is receiving it.
It's one of the areas I where I pity them..
Yes, the difference of facial expressions or lack of from me seem to exasperate neurotypicals. I have never masked body language and this freaks them out. It’s also an excuse for them to say they dislike me but then be unable to explain themselves
Yeah I guess I like the logical side of being autistic but at times it can be a real headache when exsplaining stuff to NTs. They see emotions over logic I guess and for me I find emotions are the thing I strugel to exspress the most. Like I lack facial expressions and the ability to camunicate how I feel correctly like when I'm sad I may exspress it in anger or when I'm happy I may it exspress it in sarcasm like everything in reverse more or less.