The Dreaded Inertia
Hopefully others have some perspective on this.
I'm running into this interia again, like everything I do I'm wading through wet cement.
I have all these plans, obsessively worked out into lists taking into account the steps involved, the sequential order that events must follow in order to work out, the possible solutions to foreseeable problems off in several different tangents, all the pros and cons of all situations so I am well prepared for any difficulties I may encounter but also aware of the benefits, possibilities for further action if the steps I have already mapped work out well, I have spoken to key people involved and they have been helpful and in agreement. And as bought up in another thread, the idea of sitting still and being, doing, seeing, contributing, meaning nothing, just existing in a vacuum, is the only fear I have that I can recognise. I need action, dynamics, stimulation, progression - things going on at a consistent but manageable level and in a smooth and orderly fashion.
And so far today, it has taken me almost two hours to get dressed, read an email and waste time on here.
It's a sense of almost physical inertia. everything is a huge effort, like I'm pushing though something solid.
I know some autistics have troubles with motivation and planning, but I seem ok in those areas. It's incredibly frustrating because I want to move. I need to get things done, to get going, and the alternative it to stay frozen, while time slips by, and that idea horrifies me.
In light of the fact that I want and need to move, I have all the steps planned out so it is very clear with very little confusion, I should just be able to systematically proceed until I have enacted my plans, and the idea of not enacting them sets a fire under my arse - why can't I do anything? What is this inertia? Where does it come from, and what is its basis?
I really don't understand this and that is why it continues to dog me. If I understood what was going on I'm reasonably sure I could get past it. Why is it so difficult to do absolutely anything?
Anyone else experience this or similar?
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Alexithymia - 147 points.
Low-Verbal.
For me, inertia is usually that I can't get my mind to shift focus. So I'll be doing one activity, find it hard to tear myself away, and then once I have torn myself away there will be a period of time where I can't focus on what I'm doing/can't stop thinking about what I was doing before and may get so distracted by thoughts about that previous activity or seeing stuff that reminds me of it that I actually go back to doing it and have to start the whole transition over again when I remember I was supposed to be moving on to something else.
Sometimes when I need to get up early for something I should be well-rested for, I get anxious about the possibility of being unable to sleep and hypervigilant about what time it is....the anxiety and hypervigilence then prevents me from sleeping. (This was a chronic problem for me as a child, until I learned to turn the alarm clock around so I couldn't see what time it was and got those pull-down blinds that completely block out daylight.)
Is it possible that your current inertia is like one of those, or like a combination of those two things?
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"Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving." -- Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky
Love transcends all.