Whose a Home bird?

I am and always have been, although "home" was my bedroom when I was a child and where I would quite happily have stayed all the time if other people did not make me come out. I still love to close my bedroom door behind me and dive onto my bed and pull the duvet around me, it is my "safe" place.

It is causing me a lot of problems at the moment though as I am finding it harder and harder to leave the house, which society requires us to do. (I am trying to seek help for this.) It also causes a LOT of friction with the person who I live with, who does not share my sheer contentment of just pottering around doing my own thing. His frustration at me is making my anxiety about going anywhere even worse and it stops me from being able to enjoy being at home.

In an ideal world, I would have a little home, somewhere quiet, and surrounded by nature that I was allowed to walk on without fear of reproach. There would be a stream, a forest, a hill and a lake... and there would be no roads with traffic on or other people to contend with and I would be free to stay at home or roam around unhindered outside in nature when I chose to. 

That sounds like my dream too!. An isolated cottage where I could have access to nature from the door and no neighbours to annoy me every time I step outside.

I stay at home most of the time and that suits me and my lifestyle. However I also love getting out into nature for walks. That is essential for my physical and mental health.

I find it difficult to go out due to anxiety and the sensory overload of the outside world. Once I'm out in the open fields away from everything I'm fine, but getting there can be an ordeal in itself. I have to battle with the neighbours yapping dogs, traffic noise, constant bleeping from a nearby new build housing development and walk past the local pub and school. I actually live in a relatively quiet village and can't imagine how difficult it must be for autistic people who live in towns and cities.

Whilst I love being at home most of the time, if I don't manage to get out for a few weeks it gets to me. I start feeling trapped and pacing around the house like a caged animal. As you say the longer this goes on the harder it is to leave the house.

Try not to be so concerned with what society expects. It's what's best for you that is most important. I hope that you manage to resolve things with the person you live with. That sounds like a very unpleasant situation to be in.

That sounds like my dream too!. An isolated cottage where I could have access to nature from the door and no neighbours to annoy me every time I step outside.

I stay at home most of the time and that suits me and my lifestyle. However I also love getting out into nature for walks. That is essential for my physical and mental health.

I find it difficult to go out due to anxiety and the sensory overload of the outside world. Once I'm out in the open fields away from everything I'm fine, but getting there can be an ordeal in itself. I have to battle with the neighbours yapping dogs, traffic noise, constant bleeping from a nearby new build housing development and walk past the local pub and school. I actually live in a relatively quiet village and can't imagine how difficult it must be for autistic people who live in towns and cities.

Whilst I love being at home most of the time, if I don't manage to get out for a few weeks it gets to me. I start feeling trapped and pacing around the house like a caged animal. As you say the longer this goes on the harder it is to leave the house.

Try not to be so concerned with what society expects. It's what's best for you that is most important. I hope that you manage to resolve things with the person you live with. That sounds like a very unpleasant situation to be in.

Thank you. It meant so much to me to read your reply and discover that there was someone else who could understand and felt the same way! Like you, walks in nature are also essential for my physical and mental health and when I stop I quickly go downhill.

I live in a village too and can completely relate to the ordeal of just getting out of the village itself. I too, am okay (nearly always anyway) once I am out in nature and away from everything, but getting there can be so hard. We don't even have a school or a pub but there are always people out and about and there is a busy road running right through the middle. It only takes one or two inconsiderate drivers or a group of people standing chatting and my anxiety/stress levels will be so high that I just can't carry on and will turn back. 

Yes, I too quickly start to feel trapped when I do not manage to get out. I love walking and long for the freedom of just being able to just tumble out of my house and stride off, unobserved, into nature. A nature that is not carved up with roads and fences, that does not have noisy cars flying through it at dangerous speeds, and that doesn't have huge swathes of it that are out of bounds and dedicated to shooting pheasants! It would be wonderful to have that freedom and just be allowed to "be". 

I hate traffic, everything about it is such a sensory overload. I dont understand why there are so many cars everywhere. In the 60s and 70s everyone had one car per family. Now it seems most families have at least 3