Do other people with AS/ HFA feel this way?

Post Reply New Topic

I hope I am posting this in the right section.

Last few days on TV they were taking with people that do things like walk across the country, sail around the world, go out start a successful big company, that kind of thing. All of them said the same thing. They felt the need to do it, to challenge themselves and push themselves.

Me, I am happy just going to work. Happy who I am and I never feel the need to prove myself to anyone. I don't need to push my limits to feel like a real man.

Anyone else with AS or high functioning autism feel like I do?

I am kind of the same way. I have a good bunch of friends who really understand me and a boyfriend who loves me for who I am... he is my soulmate. I don't have a job nor go to college but I feel like my life is pretty good compared not to having these things.

I think it is good that you feel happy about these things... that you don't have to challenge yourself to prove who you are anything of that nature. It means you love life as it is and you wouldn't do anything to change it.

I'm the opposite. I feel the need to accomplish something in this life. I have an idea of what it is I want to accomplish. It's the, "How?" that boggles my mind. I think it's because of how I was raised actually... There is of course nothing wrong with the way you view things. I think my peception is the one that's dysfunctional actually because I can point to specific things in my past that were abnormal and probably contributed to me feeling driven.

I pushed hard and sought out challenges in my 20's, but eventually ended up learning the value of moderation (the hard way). At this point I care little for what anyone else thinks of what I've accomplished (not much to show), how hard I've worked (can't prove it to a skeptic), and the price I paid.

I'm just glad to take care of my duties (looking out for my elderly parents (which isn't a huge amount of work at this point)), and learning whatever catches my interest, while not pushing so hard to do something with it that I start to hate it.

And luckily, my circumstances are pretty good, so I don't have worry about food & shelter, so no big plans needed to find ways to better secure those things.


A side thought: I was never big on competing to beat other people. It was always just about challenging myself.

I enjoy challenges and want to be good at what I do, but I don't always push myself to do it.

I often wonder why I don't have as much drive or motivation as I think I should. There's an old joke that says "Why did God invent whiskey?" and the answer is "To keep the Irish from ruling the world."

So in a similar vein if you believe in God you could ask "How come aspies lack drive?"and the answer could be "God didn't want them ruling the world."

Good question. I think it's a matter of what is important. If something is important to me, I often do want to challenge myself to get better and grow. But I don't necessarily have the same priorities that other people have. I also don't want to measure myself against other people - there will always be someone who does something better/faster/easier/etc than you, so that's a losing game. Tony Robbins calls stuff like sailing around the world "adventure goals" and I would say it's something that is a very low priority for me. I don't want to sail around the world, own a castle, etc because it's not important. But I always want to improve in my career and be the best I can be.

Nope.

I feel the need to push and challenge myself, I've always had a drive to achieve great things...I think I have achieved great things in myself, but not achieved much in any other way, my current situations prevents me doing anything so makes me feel trapped.

I feel the need to push at boundaries, but never the need to to it publicly. I would walk across the country, but inclined to not share the experience and be baffled that anybody cared that I did it.

I think autistic people can certainly have drive and ambition. I think it's more a matter of how we go about it and what we value when we do it, as with many things.

Yes. I don't feel I need to prove myself or to impress people.

However I have pushed myself in the past about my traits because I wanted to be independent and not disabled. I have also worked hard to be good at softball when I was in high school. It was about my own ego and to feel good about myself.

I don't feel the need to impress others. The only person that I have to impress in the end, is myself. It takes very little for me to impress myself.

When you've met one person with Autism - you've met ONE person with autism.

Everyone is different.
You are an individual, even if you have autism.

When it comes to working a job, I would be content just to work a regular job at a regular store.

However, when it comes to artistic endeavors, I really do feel the need to prove myself and I become upset and jealous when I don't feel that I measure up to other artists.

Often times my drive is due to feeling the need for validation from my dad. This is why I think my personal drive is dysfunctional.