What's your copying strategy to symptoms of Austism/Aspie?

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For example, anxiety from day to day basis, how do you cope with it in short/long term?
Other than medication of course, be it a holistic/placebo/proven method/unproven way of self awareness.

Problem : I have short attention span (easily distracted) and hyper active (excitement) , possible ADHD

Solution : I bring along pepper mint oil and sniff it to boost up concentration. It also reminds me I have a task that requires my full attention for that short amount of time. And by doing that constantly puts me into a self awareness mode most of the time.

For anxiety I'm trying to become as apathetic and complacent as possible.

Which does nothing to help concentration and attention span.

I learn to do things that I know are relaxing or distracting for me. If I am very anxious, I can't calm down very well. So I will go in my bed and lie down, so that I can be alone. I also will take a hot shower, put on comfortable clothing, and spend time looking things up online or playing a game. If I'm in public, there isn't much that I can do, except to get out of there ASAP. I must be at home to calm down.

I deal with executive functioning problems by trying to keep a schedule with apps, and by isolating myself when I must concentrate. I still have much to work on in that area.

I still seem to be unable to pull myself away from whatever I am absorbed in at any particular moment, and then go attend to my responsibilities. I also get distracted when doing things that I must do but dislike. For instance, I'll wander off and forget what it is that I was doing and end up doing something I like doing instead.

I deal with sensory issues by avoiding whatever it is that bothers me. Touch, sounds, smells, usually.

Eliminating sources of stress.

This cannot be stressed (pun intended) enough. My level of executive functioning plummets and my sensory issues flare up when I'm subjected to stress, and my mindset is too rigid to deal with many types of stress on a case-by-case basis. Since it is basically impossible to avoid *some* types of stress in my job, other aspects of my life thus need to be permanently adjusted accordingly to prevent overload.

So... when I lost my last job due to a meltdown at work, I decided to cut off all ties with friends, former colleagues etc. Subsequently, I have also basically cut of all ties with my family (and my parents, in particular). With almost no social obligations whatsoever (other than occasionally letting a handyman in to fix stuff in my apartment) I have create a very low-stress "counterweight" to workplace stress in my personal life to keep my overall stress level as low as possible.

As a result, I now have (and hopefully will continue to have) sufficient mental surplus to (1) work, (2) exercise, (3) eat healthily and (4) get household tasks done.

I'm also probing the possibility of engaging in some meditation techniques to further galvanize myself against stress (reading up on Buddhism right now to see if I can find some inspiration), but I'm not really into the spiritual aspects.

Apathy is always bad, complacency could be good--in that it promotes relaxation.

I don't think people should be tense all the time. I think people should try hard, but not try TOO hard. Try hard within their comfort zones, or maybe a little bit (but not too much) out of their comfort zones.

A good part of the time, I just keep pushing through and hope I come out the other side ok.

It's the only thing I've found that sometimes works for me, but I don't recommend this for others.

In my view, it is best to deal with anxiety separately from autism.
I think they are mostly separate issues, because I don't have anxiety more than the average person.
It is possible to learn to reduce anxiety, basically not feel it in situations in which one used to feel it a lot.

The best thing I've found so far is to make a permanent record of what's bothering me. Write it down, dictate it into an audio file, draw a picture of it, whatever you find easiest.

For me, that makes the problem 'real' and 'concrete' which helps to prevent the thoughts from going round and round in my head too much, and reduces the amount of procrastination that I do. It's one of the reasons I like forums so much - it doesn't matter if none of the advice I get suits me, I benefit just from letting the thoughts out from being trapped in my brain.

I have phases when I can't focus on anything for very long, and I get through my day by making one tiny goal, accomplishing it, then making another tiny goal... Eventually things get done that way.

When i get nervous, I try to breath in and out a couple times and think of something that's make me happy.

Thanks for the posts .. It's interesting to relate the problems on focus, stress, nervous (due to?) , meltdown.

Unfortunately by lying on the bed alone and shut people off , isolation isn't a solution. I know you are recharging your batteries, but you can't do this at work or with friends.

for stress coping strategy , I do yoga and mediation breathing on mindfulness. Dipping in hot and cold pool makes miracles but no longer can afford to go to such spas now.

I am not sure if you read about the left brain and right brain function , myer Briggs sense and intuition. Most of the time my brain is either in the past or future, hardly in present. It's annoying because I can't concentrate to be in the present and what's happening around me , the people that are around me.

it's a feeling of spacey-ness like my body is here but not my mind. I am trying a spiritual method of using grounding stone like onyx and I hold it and fiddle with it as thou the weight of the stone makes me feel that I need to be in the present and prevent my mind from drifting away.

Yoga and meditation are really good coping strategies. I enjoyed doing yoga back when I still did it. Mindfulness meditation is difficult, but I've heard that it really works for some people.