Routine?

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I was diagnosed with Asperger's Disorder half a year ago and since then done alot of reading about the condition
But every article I read about Asperger's states that people with asperger's cling to routine and can't cope with changes...

While this may be true for some people with asperger's, I literally have no routine

I woke up today at 1am after going to bed at 3pm the day before.
While the the day before yesterday I woke up at 6pm, going to bed at 8am

Maybe my routine is to have no routine

Anyone else do the same? or I am the only one

Cheers!

I am someone who does better with routine but I have a hard time establishing it for myself. That's probably why I'm more productive at work than at home. I think it's Executive Dysfunction.

My bedtimes are erratic too. But I hate change! That sounds contradictory. I guess I do both. I don't care when I wake or sleep, but just try moving my TV show to another time slot! Or run out of my breakfast cereal, or order pizza from another pizzeria, really earth-shattering stuff like that.

I just remembered something else that I do - when walking home from work, I walk *exactly* on the same sidewalk and cross *exactly* in the middle of the block etc etc etc. Creature of habit.

Exactly. I don't like change, I don't like surprises, I don't like things to be "disorganized" or unpredictable. In order to function, I need routine. I just don't get it very often.

To the OP: I do know a young man with AS who is very flexible, so you're not the only one.

It's not that my routine is flexible, it's that I have no concept of time or it's passing
My anti-routine is extremely rigid...I cannot get it into a routine

I tried medication but that didn't work very well

Alas, t'is all good

Isnt havig little concept of time part of AS? I have little things like allways waking up and having a cup of tea and peanut butter on toast. I like to have a cup of tea in the afternoon and feed the fish. In the evening I like to watch at least one episode of my favorite TV show of moment and very perticular about how that happens. Cup of tea, lights off, sound up, no interuption and favorite seat. I have to go to the loo first too. But these things dont have to happen at perticular times. I wake up wenver, go to sleep whenever. I dont know if that counts as routine or not.

Hmm...

I dunno, I find it quite hard to leave the house if I haven't done everything just how it should be done. I forget things and feel stressed if I don't complete my routines. I feel stressed if I am running late. I also feel even more depressed if I don't have routine! There have been times when I've missed uni because I overslept and didn't have time to follow my usual routine so just couldn't go, despite the fact that if I could have had a quick shower and run out the door I would barely have been late!

It's totally irrational and I know it is but I can't function without it!

I find Im more interested in sameness then routine. Sort of the same thing, sort of not. Like my cups of tea example. I like to use the same cup. I wont freak out if I have to use a different one but I am happier using the same one. It will get angry if someone interferes with my "routine" Like if someone uses my cup knowing its my cup. Or if they dont know I will just feel uncomfortable. If something new is added to the house it will take me a while to be femiliar with it enough to use it. Like we have a new teapot. After about a month I deciede to use it. Now its the only one i use. We have a new frying pan. I was very unhappy about it because the old one disapeared. Forcing me to use the new one. Except I didnt I cooked something not requiring a sauspan.

So yeh, not rigid time based routines but I need to do things the same way. But this is a non-sure/non-diagnosed perspective.

Yes, yes! Sheldon Cooper moments That's my cup. They're using my cup. Why is that person using MY cup? I'll have to get a new one now. I don't want a new one. I want MY cup. Not after they've used it (anxiety attack).

I'm not so locked into any routine that something has to happen exactly the same way at the same time every day or I freak out. But a comforting sameness is an integral part of a low-stress life. It all comes back to not being able to process things fast enough and feeling disoriented and out of control when even small changes begin to occur too rapidly.

As far as sense of time - that's precisely why I spend so much of my day here. I get up, check email and Facebook, then wrongplanet...then it's the middle of the afternoon and I haven't made lunch yet... And I really did mean to get to so many other things...

Also, Twyll: erratic sleep patterns are almost as much an AS trait as routines. I have to (self) medicate to keep mine fairly regulated, or I'd be up for days at a time.

Ah, finelly someone that understands! Thats exactly the thought patterns I go through. I brought my friends cup once, I was horrified, I felt terrible esp as his mum brought it for him. So I brought it up carefully, er, you know ur cup. He said "oh that was you was it. Dont worry, I'll just get a new one." I thought he'd react just the way I would react... not very well. I was absolutely fuming when my beloved cup disapeared. I dont know if someone broke it and didnt bother owning up to it or stole it. But I shall never forget that cup, may it rest in peace.

I'm absolutely terrible with spending too much time doing the wrong things. Before I know it, the days over and I've accomplished absolutely nothing. Gah.

Oh and the big band theory is awsome.

Twyll,

The criteria is very flexible and very open to interpretation.

Everyone is individual.

You'll find that sometimes the whole routine/rules/resistance to change thing shows up in unexplained places.

For me, I'm not attached to routine but I love my house. I opted to knock-down and rebuild instead of moving so that I'd have the same location.

If I wasn't being given different food all the time, I'd probably limit myself to about eight things that I liked and never bother varying them.

If my routine is changed, I experience anxiety. I am a school teacher---a profession perfect for me because of the rigid routine. The bell rings at the same time each day for each change of class---I love that. However, when I coached golf years ago, I hated golf match days because of the change in my routine---since I could not go home after school, but instead had to go to the golf course. I do best with a set routine in my life---and my family definitely knows it. However, there are some things I like to do that are a change to my routine such as my music ministry. But---that is something that I chose to allow to be created. In my music ministry, I perform alone---no one goes along with me.

Now this is not to say that all my free time has to be in a set routine. I like to eat out at restaurants on various days. I also like to go shopping on occasion too (but not at Wal-Mart unless there is a video, etc. that I really want). Where I teach though, if there is an assembly or something that changes my work routine, that does bother me.

I am the exact same way, I hate things to be disorganized, and unpredictable, it causes me a lot of anxiety, and stress.
I have to follow a routine also, I get up at the same time every morning, and start doing my chores, in a certain order and if someone messes up that certain order, it makes me mad/upset. I thrive on a rigid routine, I also go to bed at the same time every night, most of the time, unless we are gone when I usually go to bed.

I'm EXACTLY like that! I have no order or anything from day-to-day. I'm a mess, really. I don't don't go to sleep at the same time each day, either. But, like others have said, i like to have a certain amount of predictability so that i know what's going to happen with whatever i happen to do. I want to be mentally prepared for whatever is going to come, so if something i'm not used to happens i will be ready. Then if i plan on something happening and it doesn't, i can sometimes get pretty upset.. And the same goes for if i'm forced into an unknown situation that i didn't know was coming.

I'm EXACTLY like that! I have no order or anything from day-to-day. I'm a mess, really. I don't don't go to sleep at the same time each day, either. But, like others have said, i like to have a certain amount of predictability so that i know what's going to happen with whatever i happen to do. I want to be mentally prepared for whatever is going to come, so if something i'm not used to happens i will be ready. Then if i plan on something happening and it doesn't, i can sometimes get pretty upset.. And the same goes for if i'm forced into an unknown situation that i didn't know was coming.