Do you get bored with routine?

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Aspies are said to easily freak out when their routine is disturbed. But do they also get bored when things stay the same, day in, day out?

In my case, I hate it when things don't develop. Even my obsessions can become tedious and I often abandon them once they've passed their sell-by date. But then I'm undiagnosed - could this be a sign that I don't have Aspergers?

I guess it could be akin to the way Aspies have trouble dealing with people, and need to spend time alone to recuperate, yet they still often feel loneliness as acutely as anybody else.

Sorry to exclude neurotypicals from the poll, but it wouldn't make sense for them to vote on this. Self-diagnosed Aspies welcome.

Thanks.

Yes and no

Routines are essential in all areas that are difficult for me and a learned behavior. For instance, I couldn't manage household chores if I didn't create routines. I can be very efficient in these areas, but only if I stick to a specific schedule and do things the same way.

On the other hand, I hate it when my days start to look alarmingly the same and I need distraction. Same goes for things I like of find easy to do - I need to see some progress and have some challenge or I lose interest. I also have a curious nature and I'm always interested in finding out and understanding more, even experimenting new things if I have some control over the conditions.

But if I'm stressed or overloaded, routine and sameness are my safe place, just as loneliness helps me recharge.

Sometimes I change things for convenience, for example I wanted to listen to music while brushing my teeth so changed the routine so I could, but I only changed the time I brush my teeth (to before I get ready for bed).

But yeah, I do change the routine sometimes, but only rarely and I only like changing small details.

I don't have a rigid daily routine as I'm a parent but most of my days are similar and when I go out it's generally to the same places. I do get a bit bored with this sometimes and crave something/somewhere different but at the same time it makes me anxious. I voted "sometimes, slightly" as that seems to fit me best. I steer away from routine but it's the exception rather than the rule.

I have the ADHD inability to stick to routines and the AS/HFA need to stick to routines.

i have a routine life.
i like everything to be recognizable and predicable.
i govern my life, and i remain within the boundaries of my experience mainly.

that does not mean my mind is trapped in a closed system.

i think of an eagle that soars upon the thermals, and has a terrain of 100,000 acres as his territory. he is happy and free while in his domain.
if he was blown by a storm into a new area, he may not survive if he can not get back to his old territory.
that is like me.

i routinely think about the present in only the way my mind is designed to.
i am happy with routine as i need not speculate what is going to happen tomorrow.

i have a nap at 3pm every day and i go to sleep for about 1 hour and i do not worry about my life changing soon.
i have built a very nice routine which i am safe inside.
and i have not become stupid i think.
even if i did become stupid, i would not care, as long as i was able to earn and take care of myself and my animals.

Sallamandrina expresses my experience exactly.

I get bored of routines other people impose on me. I get bored of a life where I am too young to make my own decisions.

Routines usually evolve over time.

Occasionally they are replaced by new routines (usually gradually).

Often smaller elements within a routine may vary.

A routine may be dropped entirely on some specific occasion, but the change must be planned for, not spontaneous.

Spontaneity baaad. Grrrr.

I get positively panicky if I feel that I am being subjected to something that never changes whether I like it or not. Picking my kids up from school, for example. I have a routine, I leave at about the same time, I park in about the same place, I walk up to the building around the same time and try to get my son in the same place in the same way, then go get his sister, then get in the car...

But every day I know...

That I'll have the same trouble getting into traffic and the same reaction from most of the other drivers if I don't drive twice the speed limit. I know I'll have to deal with the same nuts who are there to get their kids and if I don't get there fast enough, I may have to park somewhere else. I have the same problems with the toddler while we wait, and she'll run off the same as every day, and her brother will also once he's out, and their sister will probably be late coming out, same as every day, and they won't cooperate getting to the car either...

And my 11-year-old will say, the same as every day, "I can't wait to get home," in a long-suffering tone. Every day. And if we don't answer, she keeps saying it, same as with everything else she says.

I fill the lunch boxes at the same time every day. I'm sick of that. But these are all things I probably just don't like to do.

My husband used to say the same danged thing every time I said certain trigger words, seemed to think he was funny. Lots of people use the phrase "chances are" every day. I couldn't use it without him starting to sing Johnny Mathis songs. ARGH!

Every danged night, I have to follow my son upstairs and read him a story. I hesitate a little and I get nagged by a kid. It's enough to make you feel like you've got a straightjacket on.

I get uneasy if certain routines are not maintained, but yeah, I like to shake things up sometimes. If that's not strictly AS, well, humans are varied and common traits must always coexist with individual personality and life experience. So there you go.

I've had a few of those "trigger" events - one was the sight of a pink pamphlet at work, I'd see it every day the moment I arrived.......I didn't dare destroy it, as it was useful at times and couldn't be replaced, but the anger and despair that welled up in me whenever I saw it was colossal. I still don't know what was really wrong. Repeating jokes that clearly haven't worked and never will, I don't know why people do that....one lady would repeat the phrase "that's life, without a wife" at the drop of a hat, frankly the use of a taser on her would have been forgiveable, IMHO.

Thanks for the answers, folks - good stuff.....keep 'em coming

Last edited by ToughDiamond on 08 Apr 2009, 5:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I loathe routine. The ADHD.

But I don't like surprises and I do have several rituals.

I have very strong routines.
I also have ADHD as both MmeLePen and Sora mention...so there is a kind of internal conflict - a kindof regaling - constantly going on inside me between the need for routine and its impulsive disruption!!.

anyone care for a whirl around my brain for the day?

I generally find routine to be wonderful for me. I don't care for change that much at all. But occasionally, it is ok to do something differently. But as my therapist pointed out, as could be seen in my childhood stuff, I am very ritualistic.

I love your quote millie. I have often noted that for an NT to enter my brain would have to be a shock for them. But for me---I love the way I think. I have come to realize a lot on how I think since my diagnosis. For example, a student I have in my gifted class is working on a novel. The central focus of his novel is people, as it is for most authors. I am working on a novel too---and my central focus in on things such as houses. I noted that almost every thing I have ever written about is centered on objects. I like that sameness because it is comfortable for me. But, as I do have plenty of characters in my novel, I feel I must have love scenes . I get butterflies in my stomach working with that---but, I like the challenge of it. I had already placed one good love scene in it earlier and can remember the challenge of it. So now I am trying to add more passionate character interaction in my novel. So, a little change to my routine from time to time can be---fun/uncomfortable/interesting.

Hmmm.....ADHD......that's a controversial label. But if you yourselves feel that you have that disorder, then I guess you do have it. It's going slightly to one side of the original topic, but I can't help wondering, what are the main experiences you have that convince you that you have ADHD? Are you saying that your ADHD causes you to become bored with your routines?

(what follows is seriously off-topic, so skip it if you like - I just felt I needed to explain further)
You see, I've sometimes wondered if I have that myself, because I've felt frustrated since I was around 11 years old that I couldn't always focus on schoolwork, entertainment, and conversation. And I can be alarmingly impulsive, and have resorted to smoking, alcohol, or drugs for most of my adult life, though always with a modicum of self-control.

But I can never work it out - I often suspect that the only thing wrong was that the subject matter wasn't worthy of my attention in the first place, or not of sufficient clarity and coherence to merit the investment of my time, and more recently I've wondered whether it's not simply the AS trait of difficulty in focussing on anything that I have no spontaneous curiosity about, that might be labelled ADHD by its devotees. I mean, who's to say what a person should attend to? Who can draw any meaningful line between over-impulsiveness and desirable immediacy?

On the other hand, there have been times when I find a chunk of good info about a subject I'm fascinated with, and initially my mind will balk at taking it in, even though later, when I've finally worked through it, I have to admit it was useful, relelvent and coherent.

yeah i put often-slightly.
i got bored with my recent one like whenever i watch american idol and its on till 8pm then ill take it after that but if its not on then i have to stick to my routine and take a shower at 7pm.
idk kinda weird and im up later now doing my hair lol