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Never Feeling Truly Content

SJH1994

So am quite new here, and made my introductory post the other day.

Is it a typical autistic trait to never feel completely content, I feel this way pretty much everyday, and there is always something in the back of my head either frustrating me, irritating me or just generally upsetting or worrying me, I admit that some days can be worse than others, and when it gets very bad it can lead to meltdowns, other days it can be quite distant and doesn't affect me too badly, but there is never a time when its not there. It usually leads to mental exhaustion while I'm at work, and I always have to take a little while to sit away somewhere and give my head a rest to rebuild energy-fortunately I'm in the position at work where I am left to my own devices so can do this If I want too. 

I was wondering if this is a common trait of Autism, and if anyone experiences the same or similar?

Parents

  • I'm not sure this is an autistic trait, I can think of plenty of NT's who are never content, always chasing something, never able to appreciate what they have. Many would say it differently, they'd call it striving to achieve more or not resting on your laurels.

    I think there's to much pressure to have more and more, and not stop and appreciate what we have lt alone think about what we really want, or recognise that having more "stuff" dosen't really make us happy.

    I can think of plenty of NT's who never feel good enough too, who have a voice in their heads thats telling them they're never going to be good enough, who fear that any worldly success they have s a fluke and will be snatched away from them at any minute, who suffer imposter syndrome.

    Maybe ND's are more honest and admit to feeling this way instead of trying to deny it all the time?

  • in reply to TheCatWoman

    I agree, I wasn't sure which is why I wondered if this only applied to non NT's. I do believe this is the case with many NT people too, 75% of my underlying worrying and lack of contentment is related to loneliness but I think there are many people, especially nowadays who are striving to achieve an objective, be it in there career, or something they would like to own, or a holiday they would like to have etc, and then once they have achieved that goal, they will want to set another objective of something even better, and so it goes on.

    I also think one of the problems if that nowadays, social media etc projects to everyone that you can have anything you want, or do anything you want and have a completely perfect life, which isn't always the case, and I think this kind of message can very much be the cause of that feeling of dis-satisfaction and feeling of discontentment that many people have. 

    I'm not sure, as I guess I usually try to hide that I feel this way, so maybe its not a uniquely Neurodivergent trait at all

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  • in reply to TheCatWoman

    I agree, I wasn't sure which is why I wondered if this only applied to non NT's. I do believe this is the case with many NT people too, 75% of my underlying worrying and lack of contentment is related to loneliness but I think there are many people, especially nowadays who are striving to achieve an objective, be it in there career, or something they would like to own, or a holiday they would like to have etc, and then once they have achieved that goal, they will want to set another objective of something even better, and so it goes on.

    I also think one of the problems if that nowadays, social media etc projects to everyone that you can have anything you want, or do anything you want and have a completely perfect life, which isn't always the case, and I think this kind of message can very much be the cause of that feeling of dis-satisfaction and feeling of discontentment that many people have. 

    I'm not sure, as I guess I usually try to hide that I feel this way, so maybe its not a uniquely Neurodivergent trait at all

Children
  • in reply to SJH1994

    I guess i have a different perspective as I'm really not competitive, the flip side of that is that I rarely feel any sense of achievement either. But it does give me an ability to ask questions about why things like wordly success are so important to so many people and how it's largely a trap to keep us on the hamster wheel of perpetual striving for things we probably won't get or be happy with if we do get them.

    I think this you can do or be anything you want stuff is maddness, it's toally ungrounded in reality, so I could be an astronaut? Really? So age, scientific ignorance, vertigo, claustrophobia wouldn't be a problem then? Bollards, it wouldn't, so I get to be a "failure" with insufficient self belief because I can't change certain things about myself and even if I did, I'd be so old by that time my bones would probably crumble from G-forces and no gravity.

    Sorry that was a bit of a rant, but this stuff does really annoy me.