Reaction to .....

I react quite badly to any form of change, shock or surprise.
An email about a direct debit rise for example can send me into a tailspin. Even something tiny, such as an assistant unexpectedly removing and keeping a coat hanger from an item of clothing at the checkout can cause stress and anxiety 

I had other examples in mind, but am still reacting to something  that happened recently so I can't think properly right now. 


It's not that I can't be impulsive, because I can. But anything that blindsides me can send me into a small or a major meltdown

My ways of coping are to sleep, or if that isn't possible, play a game on my phone or watch a favourite TV show wearing my comfy clothes.  But I'm looking for ways of managing my reactions to changes, rather than just coping after I've had the reaction.

  • A change big or small throws me and knocks me down. I just don't seem able to cope with it no matter what it is.

    I sleep a lot. Play games. And read. This all seems to help me cope.

  • Seems to be a theme sleep, odd isnt it.  Maybe the adrenaline rush just burns us out

  • Yes. I tried calling my GP Surgery, at 9:45 am, to ask about getting diagnosed for Dyspraxia. However, their Triage system was fully booked for the day. I went insane.

    My Cleaner told me, while she was here, that her Mum required a Private Consultation - costing £120 - for her back, simply because she couldn't get through to her regular GP.

    We gave our heart and soul to the NHS in 2020, and this is how we're repaid. Angry

  • Awesome, will have to be a pony as only have a small garden haha

  • This is the acute impact of Autistic wiring: Everything impacts us INTENSELY. Emotional, psychological, biological. 

    Learning to breathe through an impact or take a minute/hour/day before responding is the best I’ve found to deal post affect. 

  • Yep, me too. My go-to reaction is to think "it's OK, it's OK, it's OK" over and over again until I calm down a bit, sometimes accompanied with squeezing my eyes shut until I can access rational thinking again haha. Will also be looking for tips!

  • My friend hyperverbalises to me when he has a schedule change and we coregulate.  Sometimes I send him for a "processing nap".  

    For me, I am learning to ride the wave and feel the pain and wait for it to subside.  Then I can deal with it.  I think part of it is fearing that I am overreacting, but accepting that reacting strongly is what my brain does helps me rationalise it better.  

    Unfortunately those waves keep getting bigger and bigger, because the thing I am reacting to started 18 months ago and it's still not resolved to satisfaction.

    Lots of this is tied into a "loss of control" aspect whereby I cannot control outcomes, so facing a change in direct debit or a schedule change like a friend cancelling can be devastating for us.  At least initially.  Recognise the feelings as they rise, try to give a name to them and play the role of observer in what is happening to your body.  Is that feeling lactic acid, adrenaline or cortisol surging through your body?  How is this going to affect the rest of your day?  Is it something that needs addressing immediately or can you dump it on a "later" pile?  Can you tell a trusted friend how you're feeling, just to validate you and acknowledge how much it sucks to feel like that right now?  Find your control strategies, learn what is happening to your body, share the words somewhere.

    I also have an unmonitored email address I just write things to when I need someone to talk to but have noone to talk to.  It helps me to just get that energy out.  

  • Any kind of unexpected change like a bill or power cut sends me in overload and on comes vicious anxiety attack.

    Sleep is one of my coping tricks and I also do yoga and that seems to help.

  • That's great advice that will definitely work for some. But I can seldom manage it. That short-cut sounds like bliss, but I nearly always take the long way round to the same place - letting go, at least momentarily, in my case out of mental and emotional exhaustion resulting from all the forensics. I've tried mindfulness, I've tried CBT - but I've come to accept that both work most effectively on a NT mind/brain. It' still worth trying these things, to take the edge off, but that's basically the best that can be hoped for most often. Peace is much harder won for the neurodiverse I think, sustaining it even rarer.

  • Its a case of managing thoughts (and feelings), only way - don't react so extremely, and don't dwell on something and let things spiral.  Tell yourself 'I'm not thinking about that' and do something else, or think about something better.  Start thinking 'i can cope with these things' - and also 'i'm not going to think about that now' and do something else, so you don't dwell.  A calm mindset helps, it helps you focus on dealing with solutions rather than worries.

  • Update: thought all the workplace change was over but I tempted fate by saying that here. Just heard there will likely be more, in about a year. So I'll be worrying from now to then about who's coming in. Brilliant. The catastrophising is just getting started....

  • When it comes to things like household bill changes and the like, I'm kind of the opposite: I don't worry enough - I can't make myself absorb the information off the letter - doing so feels somehow like an Herculean task - and it gets stuck in a drawer for 'later' or binned. 

    But many other changes can very much startle me, and even tip my world on its axis quite drastically in ways many others wouldn't understand. For instance, at the start of this year, a new post got created in my dept. at work, and a whole domino effect started where every few weeks between now and then there would be a dread about who might be coming in, catastrophising in advance, then waiting for personnel to confirm who got each post, then prpearing for the change in team dynamic as each arrival occurred. All nice people by the way (the ones that thankfully got the four posts in question) but the constant state of uncertainty and each new change starting a whole new wave of worry has been an unceasing constant for six months - thankfully reaching its conclusion this week. 

    Unannounced callers can sometimes really throw me as well. In other circumstances, with some knowledge a day or two ahead, I wouldn't be so rattled so would be  more comfortably leaned into (if not as relaxed as an NT would be) the conversation. My social anxiety can be pretty bad, but I work at it. 

    I think it must be a 'spoons' thing - there's what we thought we were rationing our energy reserves for for the day, and then there's the unexpected, which sometimes throws the whole thing into disarray and a surprising amouny ot exhaustion after the fact.

  • I don't watch tv either... Much more prefer movies. Haha yes do it'll help you keep the grass cut Laughing

  • I have disney but dont watch much tv......i will get a horse haha 

  • I'm like this as well. My other me kicks in if anything negative happens. 

    For me I watch Disney or go horse riding just to try and keep busy and clear my thoughts.

  • I have to deal with day-to-day stress constantly. Also, my house is messy. Without my cleaner, it would be far worse. 

  • I get the same when i get an enexpected bill or fine or badsically anything that is slightly negative.  Go into defense mode, adrenaline shoots through my body....

    I also sleep and play games to not think.....so....i eill be looking for tips as well lol