Aspergers & Routines

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Are Aspergers good with daily routines?

Sometimes, they overdo it; other times, they have trouble with new things.

many of us thrive on routine and get much more done in our lives because we follow routine, but we may also get "stuck" and feel unsafe if we have to make changes for any reason. Routines can be helpful and comforting but we might have difficulty when we have to adjust to something new , different, or other changes in the routines or interruptions to them.

I like routines.

I think if I've figured out how to do something then doing it the same way in the future is logical.

Get up
Get dressed
Turn on PC
Make a cup of tea
Take a few drags on my ecig
Check WP, email and news/weather
Make another cup of tea

Repeat x 365 times per year

Yes, I think I like routine..

There's a lot of routine in my life, but I've noticed I don't quite perform those routines like a robot would. I often perform the steps out of order, not by design (because there's usually an optimum order for the steps), but by accident. It doesn't do any harm usually, except that it annoys me that it can't have been fully optimised.

I like routine because when I get used to it I don't have to think about it, so my mind is free to ponder more interesting things. As long as the environment doesn't change. No wonder I don't like change. It's like when something's out of whack with a robot system that spray-paints cars, e.g. the car is in the wrong place, and the robot carries on regardless, just spraying the wrong parts and making a complete mess. Unlike the robot I notice things are wrong of course, and then I get upset because a task that should be very easy is suddenly rather more demanding - I have to think new thoughts, and I don't know whether I can adapt to the change or not. I'm at risk of failure with something I'm used to succeeding with.

But I'd hate it if my entire life was nothing but routine, even if the routines were perfectly designed. My brain needs challenge, it needs to trailblaze, to look for new ways to make my life more comfortable and more fun. Even non-productive challenges can satisfy that need, to a degree at least. Just that I'd rather such challenges were confined to particular stages of my day when I'm ready for them, not breaking out unasked for during the monotonous chores I have to do, such as acquiring and preparing food, maintenance of personal hygeine, etc. I dislike having to do those things at all and I don't like setbacks.

Pretty much the only pleasure I get from doing routine chores is the feeling that I've made them super-efficient so that I'm getting them done with the minimum of fuss and bother thanks to my own ingenuity. Though there's also a certain pleasure in the sheer rhythm of a good routine. And it's nice to go through the steps of a routine and find I've learned to do it more elegantly than I did last time. I like acquiring skills. I hate the pain of it, but I like getting to the point where it's paying off.

The most important part of my life to me is the non-routine, creative, new part of it. If there was a machine that did all the other stuff properly I'd be onto it like a shot. But maybe I should be careful what I wish for. Maybe I'd miss the mechanical chores if I completely got rid of them. It just doesn't feel like I would because I've never been rid of them.

It probably depends on whether or not that person has ASD or ASD+ADHD.

I'm only autistic, yet I struggle with routines.

It's very likely due to my upbringing.
Try dealing with Filipino time -- the most literal form when time, even prompted, is not consistent with my own needs and is mostly changing, not just this mere stereotypical type of habitual lateness -- for most of your life, and without a constant and unchanging space to call your own to do something on your own, in a culture that refuses to leave you alone -- one would either become less sane or don't care anymore. Or both.

Didn't had a phone or a particular toy or the internet. All I have was television.

I want routines as a child.
I maintained some or at least tried. But I lack the discipline, and I'm this emotional brat that refuses to comply -- not that anyone was enforcing or even requiring me to do this, more like I cannot obey myself.

I tried to be this independent person as a child. The type that's able to maintain her own room and follow her own schedule.
But failed so badly because no one's helping me or telling me how, and because I'm still fighting with this 'damaged human' who needed to be fricking coddled.

And failed really badly, especially during teenage years, that not even something as basic as sleep and eating are done on time. Ever.

So the only routines I have for now are to do with work -- which I'm still struggle to follow, despite years of experience, my problem remains the same as I had been since childhood.

Heck, as a child I wanted a planner.
But I failed to actually use any after all of my previous years of adult life... Until, like, this year.

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I'm good with my own routines because my routines are the way I do things and I think they make sense with how I do them. I have trouble if someone/something interrupts those routines or if I accidentally do something out of order and break my routine or how I do things.

I don't have routines for every single aspect of my life though, it's more like I have routines for things I do within my life. Eating, for example. My eating routine isn't that I have to eat at around X time every day (although considering I do tend to eat around the same times every day, maybe I subconsciously have 'time to eat' routines? I don't think it's because of hunger, like I will put off eating if it's not the right time to me even if I am hungry) but how I eat, I have to have the food arranged in a certain way on the plate(s) and I have to eat the food in a certain order.

^
I don't think I have to do things in a particular way or have the bits and pieces arranged according to any pre-determined pattern for its own sake. In my case it's just that it helps me to get whatever it is done quickly and easily if the steps in the process are very much like what they've always been. It's always rational AFAIK. When I look into why it bothers me that something or other has been moved or changed, I can usually see how the change could logically be expected to slow me down or cause me to make a mistake. I suppose there could be a bit of discomfort arising from the unfamiliarity of the change alone, but if so then it's not extreme discomfort. Is that the difference between ASD routines and OCD routines?

I don't like not being able to know what to do, but also doing the same thing every day makes me feel crappy and I just generally hate my everyday life. When there's a change in something I prepared for, or a sudden thing I have to go to when I planned to do something else, I'm really irked. Changes have to scheduled and the only time I'm okay with unscheduled change is when it directly benefits me. Like when I don't have to do something I dislike or am too tired or overwhelmed for.

Routines are good. The key is not to get bent out of shape if you need to deviate from the routine for some reason.

If I like them. I haven't regularly brushed my teeth since I started being bullied at work many years ago. The stress of the pandemic did not help with that. I'm not sure what it would take to start regularly brushing my teeth again. Self respect?

I get myself caught in a rut but I'm bad at following routine, if that makes sense. Sometimes I find routines too overwhelming, such as going to work 5 days a week. I have impulsively taken a day sick in the middle of the week before, just to break the weekly monotony. But I'm also in a rut, meaning I don't go out very often due to social anxiety in public places. But I'm more likely to make myself go out when I'm on holiday from work, as the weekends just zoom by too quickly and public places are always super crowded at weekends.

So I have difficulty following a scheduled/rigid routine but I am caught in the sleep/eat/work rut and don't always allow time for doing other things.