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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 28 years old from the UK and gained a formal diagnosis of combined Asperger's & ADD at around 23. No I don't remember exactly which year it was, it's not important to me! :P

    I have always found myself in the strange position of being able to hold down most jobs whilst also getting into plenty of trouble at work. I'm "black and white", decisive, impulsive, reactive, proactive, incendiary... however you want to term it, two hempspheres of one meaning.

    I can honestly say that for me, work becomes a huge problem when I'm not stimulated and additionally when my senses are overwhelmed. This can seem a bit contradictory but I suppose having both Asperger's and ADD, I'm a bit of a walking contradiction :')

    I throw my toys out of the pram when things don't go right. I have attention to detail on a level which others find infuriating, especially when 'hyperfocus' from my ADD aligns with my Asperger's enabling very deep and linear thinking. But there are many places where these traits are valued and not scorned. Unfortunately the retail industry is not one of those places.

    Being generally dissatisfied, difficult to please and a perfectionist caused me to reject and eject from any and all jobs I wasn't happy with. As a result, I ended up in the right place with the right people. Reject the bad, accept the good!

    My conditions are fully disclosed and when I have an outburst, we all just laugh about it (which I suggested because it makes me feel better about it!)

    Although I'm a walking 'sheer force of will' with various disruptive eccentricities and a percievably negative attitude (in some ways); I'm also a person. I'm also funny, talented and great at what I do. As such I haven't been 'fired' to date despite having quit many jobs and having said a great deal more than I should have on numerous occasions.

    My advice to you: Find what makes you tick. Find what you love and do that. For me it's design, development, web marketing, big data and all things digital - for you it may be something else!

    Don't end up wasting yourself. You do deserve more and I bet you can find it. It just takes willpower and bravery. Also, CBT helps a lot! (well - it helped me a lot anyway)

    Don't think what could or should have been. Think what will be. Picture it and "make it so" (thanks Picard!)

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  • I'm 28 years old from the UK and gained a formal diagnosis of combined Asperger's & ADD at around 23. No I don't remember exactly which year it was, it's not important to me! :P

    I have always found myself in the strange position of being able to hold down most jobs whilst also getting into plenty of trouble at work. I'm "black and white", decisive, impulsive, reactive, proactive, incendiary... however you want to term it, two hempspheres of one meaning.

    I can honestly say that for me, work becomes a huge problem when I'm not stimulated and additionally when my senses are overwhelmed. This can seem a bit contradictory but I suppose having both Asperger's and ADD, I'm a bit of a walking contradiction :')

    I throw my toys out of the pram when things don't go right. I have attention to detail on a level which others find infuriating, especially when 'hyperfocus' from my ADD aligns with my Asperger's enabling very deep and linear thinking. But there are many places where these traits are valued and not scorned. Unfortunately the retail industry is not one of those places.

    Being generally dissatisfied, difficult to please and a perfectionist caused me to reject and eject from any and all jobs I wasn't happy with. As a result, I ended up in the right place with the right people. Reject the bad, accept the good!

    My conditions are fully disclosed and when I have an outburst, we all just laugh about it (which I suggested because it makes me feel better about it!)

    Although I'm a walking 'sheer force of will' with various disruptive eccentricities and a percievably negative attitude (in some ways); I'm also a person. I'm also funny, talented and great at what I do. As such I haven't been 'fired' to date despite having quit many jobs and having said a great deal more than I should have on numerous occasions.

    My advice to you: Find what makes you tick. Find what you love and do that. For me it's design, development, web marketing, big data and all things digital - for you it may be something else!

    Don't end up wasting yourself. You do deserve more and I bet you can find it. It just takes willpower and bravery. Also, CBT helps a lot! (well - it helped me a lot anyway)

    Don't think what could or should have been. Think what will be. Picture it and "make it so" (thanks Picard!)

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