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Reaching potential

SingingPotato

I am a 23 year old female with aspergers. I am interested in people's views on reaching their potential.

One of the things I find sad about autism is that so many of us have special skills, talents or expert knowledge and yet due to social problems, exhaustion, sensory sensitivity e.c.t it is hard to reach potential and in fact, for others to give us a chance to reach that potential!

I know I am pretty lucky, I have a part-time job in a supermarket, I volunteer at the local library and sing in a choir. So, I do use a variety of skills and I'm fairly independent.

I don't want to be self-centred and unnapreciative. Most of the time I am content. However, I can't help feeling down sometimes that I'm not reaching my potential. I'd love to do something more. I have a high intelligence, an expertise in literature and I sing to an above Grade 8 level. Yet I just don't know how to go about making a proper career. I already come home from work exhausted most days, and I only work 4 hours at a time.

Does anyone have any personal stories about how they feel about reaching their potential? Or any suggestions for how I can progress further into an area of my expertise?

A xx

Parents

  • I'm 60, and started my CIMA studies when I left school and got my first job. I flew through the first three parts, and then got stuck. I retook the exams a number of times, but didn't manage to pass. It seems that whatever I do, I get to a certain level and get stuck. I was made reduntant from my first job, but left the second one because I felt I had to due to a difficult people situation. Then I had two jobs that didn't work out because I didn't fit in. I set up my own business providing accounting services to small businesses, and did OK, but never made my fortune, even though the business had the potential for it.

    With hindsight, all the big changes I've made in my life have been because I couldn't handle a difficult situation with other people. I don't think I think in an "all or nothing" way, but when I'm in a difficult situation it's the only way I can act. I either put up with the situation, or have to get out of it. I can't negotiate and work out a solution, as I can't connect with people beyond quite a superficial level.

    I've always thought I had a problem that would be resolved eventually, and it was only 5 years ago I started to discover that maybe it's something I was born with, and I've still got a month to wait for the results of my diagnosis. If I'd known a very long time ago, maybe I could have adapted, and done things differently. I think I've made some progress with resolving what I think is my other big problem, with Executive Function, by applying suggestions I've read in books and web sites on Aspergers, so maybe I'd have achieved more if I could have started doing that years ago. Or maybe I wouldn't have tried, and just led a simpler and more manageable life, where I didn't get overwhelmed by making things too complicated.

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  • I'm 60, and started my CIMA studies when I left school and got my first job. I flew through the first three parts, and then got stuck. I retook the exams a number of times, but didn't manage to pass. It seems that whatever I do, I get to a certain level and get stuck. I was made reduntant from my first job, but left the second one because I felt I had to due to a difficult people situation. Then I had two jobs that didn't work out because I didn't fit in. I set up my own business providing accounting services to small businesses, and did OK, but never made my fortune, even though the business had the potential for it.

    With hindsight, all the big changes I've made in my life have been because I couldn't handle a difficult situation with other people. I don't think I think in an "all or nothing" way, but when I'm in a difficult situation it's the only way I can act. I either put up with the situation, or have to get out of it. I can't negotiate and work out a solution, as I can't connect with people beyond quite a superficial level.

    I've always thought I had a problem that would be resolved eventually, and it was only 5 years ago I started to discover that maybe it's something I was born with, and I've still got a month to wait for the results of my diagnosis. If I'd known a very long time ago, maybe I could have adapted, and done things differently. I think I've made some progress with resolving what I think is my other big problem, with Executive Function, by applying suggestions I've read in books and web sites on Aspergers, so maybe I'd have achieved more if I could have started doing that years ago. Or maybe I wouldn't have tried, and just led a simpler and more manageable life, where I didn't get overwhelmed by making things too complicated.

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