Went for assessment this week

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If you enjoy what you're doing, and you're pursuing a "harmful" Special Interest, I don't see why people have to judge.

You should be able to decide for yourself whether the "Interest" is too narrow, and too confining.

I've dropped the harmful special interests. I am trying to focus on things that make me feel good long term. To achieve that, it's important for me to keep stress at a reasonable level, and I also found that doing something I enjoy every day is important for mental health. I think a lot of parents get out of the toddler years slightly dazed and in the habit of sacrificing every waking hour to something useful....but at some point in life you have to live a little, otherwise you're no fun to be around.

I'm annoyed at myself for neglecting my garden, and the reason for it is that I don't want to go outside because i don't want to chat with the neighbours. The logical solution is then to wear sunglasses and earphones, but I hate having things around my face. So I don't go out. And I feel like an idiot sitting inside and wathcing gardening programs on tv. And now I'm invited to a neighbourhood party that will probably take place right outside my house, and I can't come up with an excuse not to go. I'll probably go and then embarrass myself, and I'm annoyed with myself anyway for becoming such a recluse, but I'm just sick of trying to have a social life when it never works out.

Sorry for the whine, I just felt we were talking past each other by being vague. How are you? Maybe I'm wrong, but I have a feeling you're not in a great mood today?

No, Underwater. I'm fine. I'm in an okay mood. I'm doing all right.

I was just distinguishing, in my Aspie way, between "harmful Special Interests" and other "Special Interests."

I wish you could go out and garden, though---since you love it so much. I wish all this social crap didn't have to interfere with what you love to do.

I'm not really keen on gardening. I like the results of the hard work, though (In other words, I would like the results without the effort LOL). A beautifully-created garden is so beautiful!

Hehe. Just checking. I was harvesting in another garden the other day, and that was ok, so it's really just about the people. I need to find a solution for this, though. We're working on redesigning the garden to have a private corner where I'll do most of my work, and making it as low maintenance as possible. A lot of it is about creating organic shapes that are more forgiving of neglect than geometric ones. I could go on. In great detail
It gives me a lot of joy, though, to look out the window and see something I planned work out better than I thought it would. Gardening is truly a positive special interest. It may not pay off a lot in terms of money, but in terms of happiness it is time well spent.

I think I just need a holiday from the holidays. The unfortunate thing is that I am finding out just how little human contact I need outside my family. This worries me. I've neglected relationships to my detriment before, but this time communicating with people feels like such a chore. Did that ever happen to you?

When it comes to my family, it's an absolute chore to attempt to communicate with them.

When it comes to other people, my answer would be: "it depends."

I don't mind talking to people sometimes---but when they try to do their ego crap, it drives me crazy. I know people who argue like people on PPR! LOL It gets ridiculous sometimes.

Gardening is definitely a "positive" Special Interest. You should read up on the landscaping craze in Great Britain and other places in the 18th century. There was a (very famous) English author named Alexander Pope whose "Special Interest" involved gardening and landscaping. He was rather a sickly man, and was hunched over because of some sort of degenerative disease---but he never gave up gardening!

I just got a little too much socialising lately. And parts of my family is way too 'successful' to be any fun to be around.

I'll definitely read up on 18th century gardening, it sounds fun!

Good night! It was really nice talking to you

Nice talking to you, too.

Sweet dreams

Yeah, there is some sort of positive strong emotion associated with it .