Inflexible Routines and Rituals?

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My therapist talked to me about AS and mentioned the inflexible routines and rituals and asked if I had any. She described it as more OCD than anything else. Is that the case? I do like things done in a certain way and my one, I guess, inflexible thing is that my pillowcase opening HAS to be facing out from my bed at all times. It actually freaks me out if I find I've forgotten to check it and wake up with it facing the wrong direction. Not sure that qualifies though.

What are some of your routines/rituals?

First one that comes to mind for me is money. The bills in my wallet all have to face the same direction, and be stacked with the smallest denomination on top. Drives me nuts when a clerk hands me bills all facing different directions. I have no doubt there are others.

I was very much like this as a child.

However, as an adult I have found that I can't act like this if I want to keep my job (I would soon lose it if I missed my train every morning because I hadn't finished all my rituals!).

I think this is why I am so disorganised. The truth is that I have to be either one thing or the other, and I have swung away from the OCD towards the chaotic, because my life is actually slightly less unmanageable this way.

However, when I get really unhappy & stressed, I sometimes decide that I am going to take control of something in my life, & set up an elaborate routine to achieve this. But soon I end up having to choose between keeping to the routine or living in the real world, so the routine has to go.

Why can't I just be normal? No-one else I know is like this!! !! !

I have both AS (primary) and OCD. AS routines are enjoyed, and people sometimes turn them into their occupations. (I did.) They are not technically obsessions, since obsessions are inconsistent with one's self-image.

Aside from my "clean" related things, I get inflexible about schedules or procedures. It's sort of an issue at work sometimes. I don't MEAN to be that way, don't even realize I'm doing it.

I can get freaked out if a schedule changes. Didn't realize I do that until my ex-fiancee pointed it out to me a few years back. She was actually (surprisingly) really nice about it. Just kind of explained it to me, said she knew that's how I was and it that I'd be okay after a while. I think that's when I first started realizing how inflexible I am with some things, how much it freaks me out for plans to change. At least I recognize it now when I'm getting freaked out about it.

1) Like a previous poster all the bills in my wallet facing the same way and in value order.

2) Health club every Monday, Wednesday & Friday morning where I do exactly the same workout on (if possible) the same running machine and stepper, just increasing the weights or resistance now and again.

3) Hot dogs for my evening meal every Saturday night, if I'm feeling wild I might have smoked hot dog.

4) Sunday roast with roast potatoes every Sunday evening

5) Ham radio club every Thursday night and jazz club every Friday night where I play jazz clarinet.

6) A toolkit where everything has its place.

7) Always sleep on the right side of the bed on my right side.

8. Most days you'll find me wearing jeans and a t shirt, it's very rare to find me wearing anything different.

And finally, the weird one that my girlfriend noticed..........

9) When I scratch my head I always do it seven times.

Ed Almos

I never realized that people DIDN'T organize their money that way! LOL

As a kid (when I had a paper route) I used to iron the money that people gave me so it was not wrinkled and hard to manage. I kept it all very organized and neatly stacked. Wow... I just realized how weird that was.

Getting all my chores done in the morning, and relaxing at my clubhouse in the afternoon. It bugs me to have my afternoon disrupted.

Sid :O)

the only routine i have is im house jelouse! i hate going into town and its distressing to me if i have to. i usually only go in town once a month and hit up the usual suspects

I have a daily routine.
Hard to describe it though in words.

In a way things are just planned out for the day.

Though I do the money organizing.
I only wear pants. Do not own any shorts besides boxers.
Found that odd that those where mentioned. Never really crossed my mind as a routine.

The biggest two things are, everything must have a spot and no detours on a planned out schedule.

I am able to become more flexible at times. But if I am disrupted or a big change. I pretty much fall apart.

Before I leave, I have to check things like oil, tire pressure and conditions of belts and hoses as well as remove any leaves from my car before I start it. Sometimes I forget. In addition, I have to have the alignment checked every 6 months( lifetime warranty from a good alignment place). I also have break out the quick detailer spray the day after it rains and wipe down my car.

For me it's mostly a strong need to have everything I need on a daily basis exactly in the same place every time I need them. Everything else can go to hell in a hand basket, but if my coffee maker, cup and coffee isn't right where they should be, as well as wallet, keys, and anything else I need every day, multiple times per day, I go off the wall until I can find them. My wife likes to occasionally rearrange things, because her life was all about change. She moved so often, change is her normalcy. I grew up to two different homes. The second of which I was in for eighteen years. I hate too much change. All she has to do is move my coffee maker from the corner of the counter, two feet over, and I can't even see it right off. My first reaction if she does that is, "Where the hell is the coffee maker," and I'm immediately annoyed and think it's gone. I do find most of what she moves fairly quickly, but it's still like an adjustment to me I really don't like making. If my wallet isn't in the drawer where I always keep it, I freak, and often cannot find it. Sometimes i do it to myself accidentally, and when I do it can sometimes be days or even weeks before I find what I've misplaced, just because I set it down somewhere unusual for a moment, then forgot where it was.

I don't have very many things I have to have in place all the time, but I absolutely MUST have them in place, or it ruins my day.

I've got routines for most things I do... getting up, going to bed, taking showers, cleaning a room... They're not "nonfunctional", though they might seem so to the casual observer. They compensate for the way I will completely lose my place if I don't do things the same way every time, and that wastes a lot of time.