Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello,
I am new to the community and would like to meet people and hear their stories on seeking support for Autism and what they did whilst waiting for a diagnosis. I think what makes me fee like I am 'faking' having these daily struggles is that I have people either telling me what I do is because of who I am or because there is something weird about me and is not normal. The signs have become more visible as I have gotten older.
I would like to ask a question about people's thoughts on how they calm themselves.
I struggle immensely with staying relaxed and I dislike mindfulness and deep breathing exercises because it makes me feel in touch with my body and I want to keep being on the roll and doing and thinking about things. I only rely on one grounding technique when I suffer from anxiety attacks which can be debilitating, yet no one knows it is happening which is sort of reassuring. Does anyone else hate feeling calm or relaxed? And if so, what techniques work for you to help ground yourself when you're overwhelmed?
Hi Jay. Thank you for your advice :) That technique sounds something I'd like to try out. I do one similar which is the five senses: sound, touch, smell, see, hear and taste.
I haven’t been very calm recently but personally that’s what I’m aiming for. If you Google grounding 101 you should see the list of grounding techniques i found and use. One that was helpful is looking for things of different colours (find something red, then orange, then yellow, etc.) when out and about. It was just something external to focus on so maybe better for you as it’s not about your body which lots of techniques are.
I am also waiting to hopefully be referred for assessment and this forum is proving very helpful with lots of supportive people.