Being Overly Picky

Post Reply New Topic

Is it an aspie trait to be very picky and narrow? Like, if something is not precisely and exactly what you want it to be, you don't want it.
For example, if I'm shopping for clothes, and I'm looking for a pair of jeans, there could be a pair of jeans just like the ones I'm looking for, but the brand is different, so I won't buy them.
Does that sound like an aspie thing? Or is it just me?

It's an Aspie thing, but can also be for people who are not. Food is the most typical example of this given. But, I've been extraordinarily picky about my clothes since before I could remember. My mother literally points out how I made sure things "matched" and had "certain colors" when I was like 3 or 4.

That's totally an ASD trait. In fact, that's a neuroatypical trait, ASD or no.

It's one of those things that people off and on the spectrum tend to do, but it occurs at a much higher rate in those on the spectrum than it does in those who are not. As for me, I am EXTREMELY picky. I question if it is because I am spectrum or if it is because I was relentlessly picked on as a child. Then again, I tend to do it on things that are not socially relevant too so it might be a spectrum thing in me. For example, I can spend quite a long time picking out a paint color for a car I am going to paint. It can take me weeks to figure it out because I am obsessing over perfection in my choices (does the color work with the lines of the car, does it work with the interior I have for it, etc.) It's also part of the reason I always wear the same clothes. It's easier to not have to deal with the choices and narrow my focus down to a small number of choices. This way, I only have to choose once and can focus on thinking about other, more interesting things. If I didn't, I would sort of lock up based upon too many choices.

Oh, I definitely get that. I cycle between a few outfits and people always ask whether I wore that shirt yesterday, or this shirt the day before. But I do tend to get caught up with one particular favorite, and so decisions are never easy. I end up trying extremely hard to narrow down choices so I don't have such a broad range of things to choose from.
I was looking at colleges and I had this big list in front of me, so I was trying to find little reasons to take one off of the list. Maybe that's not a good idea, but it makes choices easier.

Yep. Sometimes I am not.

I'm overly picky when it comes to food textures. I can't eat Kraft Dinner if I feel it's too runny.

Food textures make a big difference to me.

A few weeks ago, a co-worker brought me some banana bread. I took one bite and ended up spitting it out (all over the place) because of the texture. It was slightly under cooked and so I threw it all out (when the co-worker wasn't looking).

Some other people without problems with texture had no problems eating the banana bread from the same batch that she gave them.

im really picky when it comes to routine things but other things I try to keep and open mind. I'll try just about anything once

Hahaha, that's so odd. That happened to me a few weeks ago (not with my coworker though).
My stepmom had made banana bread and I was overjoyed until I took a bite. She had used too many bananas and I ended up throwing it down the sink.

I used to be incredibly picky when I was a kid....whenever we driving somewhere, we always had to go the same route, and I only ate a few foods - mostly white bread, peanut butter, vanilla yoghurt, grapes, and milk, and that was about it. My stepdad got the idea of bribing me to try new foods with Beanie Babies, and once I discovered all the different foods I'd been missing, I was so excited - I was like Helen Keller when she started to learn that people and things had "names," and she wanted to learn every one. These days, there aren't many foods I won't eat.

I have noticed that I do tend to get kind of picky and fussy about things like food on days when I'm feeling particularly apprehensive and fragile....I think it's some kind of self - preservation.

You know, it's okay to not eat as many foods when you feel fragile. Just make sure you try to be flexible when you aren't.