Contradictions within Autism

As Melanie Sykes said, she was a "walking contradiction" and I feel the same. Here are my examples. I'd love to know if you are the same or have any more to add!

1. Feel less need to follow social conventions but then am a heavy people pleaser.
2. Feel I have my own sense of identity but get easily swept along by others.
3. Not sure how I feel a lot of the time but feel very strongly when I do know. Feel strongly other people's emotions or completely miss them.
4. Feel like I can't read people in the moment but then pick up on micro expressions or feelings other people don't seem to notice.
5. Love being on my own but have a strong need for people interaction which is often a bit difficult and tiring.
6. Naturally introverted but love the energy when with the right people.
7. Get mixed up with left or right but have a good sense of direction.
8. A strong need to be on time but always running late.
9, Approachable as an ear for problems but seldom have my own listened to.
10. Communicate clearly in my job but can't explain problems to health professionals very well.
11. Am a natural organiser but actually not very organised.
12. A strong need for a tidy house but it's always a mess (to me).
13. An effort to have less stuff but feel its always cluttered.
14. A desire for a minimalist house but think they're boring.
15. Often really want to get going a lot of the time but don't know how..
16. Don't like loud noises but love loud music.
17. Can get up early of my own accord but not when my alarm goes off.
18. Hyper focus or inertia.
19. Like to be spontaneuous but don't like a change to a plan and need to know ahead what's happening.
20. Find sameness boring but don't like change.
21. Need routine to function but have difficulty forming them unless it's imposed.

22. Good long term memory but poor short term memory. 
23. Can see both sides of the discussion so have conflicting opinions.

Parents
  • I have a fair few, but not all, of those.I have the reverse of your sense of direction thing. Left and right I have no problem with, but I could get lost on my own doorstep. Driving even relatively familiar routes sometimes, I can still mess things up. And I wandered round the town for 40 minutes a couple of weeks ago trying to find a restaurant I must have passed several times.

  • It's funny you say that. I was away by myself a bit back in a busy city and spent ages trying to acclimatise myself in relation to parts of the place I was visiting. I was there staring at a map and a passer by asked me if i was OK. I'd say this is another example of wanting to know the detail to build up a bigger picture of my area before embarking upon visitng places.  I'd say I'm good with directions in that I can sense where north is for example. I think a lot of processing goes into acclimitising our surroundings when they are new. But your examples are of familiar surroundings so it's a bit different.

  • I just cannot understand maps, even those of my local area.

  • 'flying in the air'

    I had that with my mom driving on a newly build road, satnav didn't have it yet, but it was telling us to go straight LOL

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