On clumsiness

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Do you guys feel like you have better days than others? Like for me, somedays, I will knock everything over and drop things all day. It's so frustrating. Other days, I'm so coordinated that I amaze myself (which are so few and far between). I'm wondering what I'm doing to make it that way. Like today was a bad day. But I'm kinda sleep deprived, and I didn't eat until really late. I'm just wondering what you guys have noticed...like is your clumsiness worse when tired or hungry or if you drink milk or something.

I'm very frustrated by this today. How am I supposed to clean a house when everytime I turn around, I make a bigger mess?

Yeah, I also have the feeling you describe. Some days I feel real sharp and alert and everything seems to go easy. Other days, I feel I have to concentrate in order to coordinate my steps, or I will stumble and fall. I never did, so I guess it just feels like it, especial when tired.

Yes. I fluctuate because on some days my AS traits and my sensory issues are really severe and on other days they are not. I have an autistic nephew - and some days he can seem like a pretty regular little kid and then on other days he will have bad sensory experiences, stare art spinning things all day and really hanker for trains and tend towards "archetypal" kind of ASD behaviours. he'll do more stimming and rocking on those days. This happens to me with my AS too. stressed or tired and my stimming increases as do other aspects of my AS. One of the things about ASD's is that our presentations fluctuate over the course of a day or a week etc. so, you are spot on in what you are saying and experiencing.

I'm clumsy 24/7.

I have a borderline dyspraxic dx, along with severe sensory integration dysfunction. I definitely have good days and bad days. On a bad day, I can't open bottles or jars, or do up buttons, and I'll bump into everything. On a good day, I'm just slightly clumsy.

Yes, it does depend on my day. When I'm very tired I'm less alert, and that's when I bump into things or throw them on the ground by accident. Some days I'm not clumsy at all, it also depends on whether I have very deep thoughts. When I have I'm clumsy, or when my mind isn't entirely ''present''.

Yeah, I am really clumsy. I don't have good 3-D vision, so that can be a problem. Plus I don't think I really pick my feet up enough when I walk, so I trip on stuff.

I teach teenagers, who tend to be clumsy, and occasionally a kid will fall over in his chair in class or trip on something and then the rest cheer or make some mean comment to make that person feel like a clutz. So then I always tell the story about how I tipped over a Christmas tree on top of myself in a large department store---ornaments shattered everywhere and salespeople running around like crazy, not knowing what to do first. hahahha Funny now, but super embarrassing at the time. That story always makes the kid feel better. No one can top me in the clutz arena.

yeah, I'm very clumsy, I bump into everything and everyone, I wake up every morning with some new bruises on my body :p

on the other hand though, I have a strange ability to catch things that people drop, almost superpower-like (think Spiderman lol). I've noticed it only happens when I turn off verbal thinking, like I appear spaced out but if I see a movement I just react without thinking. people often get freaked out by this.

I couldn't catch a ball if my life depended on it though.

I'm generally clumsy, but there are days when I am noticeably more clumsy than usual. I guess not sleeping & not eating well would have to have an effect on it, but for me the most obvious influence on my clumsiness is being around new people. It's like I have to focus so much of my attention on working out how to talk like a normal person that I've no attention left over for motor function. If I have to meet new people in a pub setting, someone's going to get a pint spilled on them within 10 minutes.

Yes, definitely have better days and worse days...there are some days where it's so bad, I can't even play guitar And that's something that I probably practice more often than I do walking or carrying glass bottles

Yes, when I'm tired or ill I'm more autistic in general. When I'm feeling well, I function better.

I'm a bit clumsy, and added to that is "over-compensation" related to my rheumatism. Rheumatism is one of those conditions that comes and goes. I get so used to making an extra effort to move my joints when they're stiff that when they suddenly loosen up I accidentally bang things, slam doors, etc.

I'm the exact way. I will knock over everything and anything, but I amazingly can catch something being dropped. Once, I was wrestling around with this marine, and he locked my hand in this hold that I never could learn (whether it's strength or that I misfire finding the nerves), either way, I did some Jet Li chit, flipped over this table, landed behind him, grabbed his head and knocked him down, and then bent over and caught him before he hit the pavement (which could have hurt him if I didn't catch him). Mouths dropped all around me. I was even impressed at myself cause I didn't think I could do something like that. The guy wasn't mad that he lost to a girl, but an Air Force girl? Very embarrassing for a Marine to lose to Air Force at anything besides filing paperwork. But my dad was a Marine (once a Marine always a Marine, but my dad is gone now), so I was raised Brat, and that saved his face a bit.

I can't catch a ball too well. I'm better now with age, but as a kid, the task seemed virtually impossible. I do remember in like 9th grade or 10th grade in high school, I was in gym class, and I was talking with some people. Some more popular people were playing volleyball behind me, and this dude thought it would be funny to launch a ball (or spike it, I don't know what he did) at my direction. I saw the thing move in the corner of my eye, and without any thought, I caught it. Everybody was like "Wooah." Of course I played it off like I expected that from myself, but I still to this day have no idea how that happened.

The other thing that reminds me of this amazing once in a while ability is driving. I can dodge a wild animal or wild driver pretty well. I, of course, will thank God everytime, and I don't care if it's me or a miracle as long as it keeps avoiding accidents.

But, I can't say I'm always like that. I seem to have a very slow reaction time when I'm tired. I have to be extra careful holding/handling my kids (1 and 2 years old) because I seem to be more clumsy now than ever. Nobody understands why I'm such a troll about getting my sleep, but I swear I'm more apt to cause accidental injury to my kids when I'm tired more so than when I'm awake. It's not like people voluntarily help me with them all the time, so tired or not, I'm all they got.

Maybe it isn't the mind being present as much as being in the present. Like when my thoughts are rolling in a different world, I'm not paying attention to what I'm doing and totally didn't notice that wall someone put in front of me. Or that I can't positively judge the distance (as many times, I only hit the wall with half myself in the doorway like I didn't line me up well enough with the gap).

Maybe that's also why many of us have problems with some social skills as we are just not really paying attention to what we are doing...i.e. what we say, how we say it, how others respond, etc. It's like we get so lost in our own thoughts that we don't really pay attention to the present day reality thing.

Like, when I'm talking to people, I think about what they say, and how amazing that correlates to this story, and then I'm thinking about the story trying to remember it properly while coming up with new thoughts on the subject like what if's and other stories that relate. I'm so busy doing that to where I can't think of editing techniques while I'm talking or pay attention to what I'm saying, how I'm saying it, or if the other person is even interested or if I'm knocking over a soda in the process. Other times, I get bored listening to other people that if I weren't thinking about something else, then I'd fall asleep which is more rude than saying something rude. It's like having a brain addicted to stimulation.

Sorry I'm going on and on here, and you can easily see how my thoughts get the better of me. I think what I need to do is research more. Of course, I'm loving all the responses.

I've always been a clumsy oaf. Anything that I can reach and grab hold of with my hands I can just as easily drop in a second if someone or something distracts me just a little. I generally get a lot of exercise throughout the day picking up the things that I've dropped. And the more tired that I am, the more I exercise. And I am equally as graceful in finding walls to bump into and things to trip over. My wife thinks that I should take more vitamin c for the bruises.

Ive always been clumsy too. As a child I was always covered in bruises, cuts and grazes from where id falled over or bumped into doors, tables, anything. I also have butter fingers so was always dropping things, and I have trouble openin jars and bottles at times too.

Im the same at work, I am always bumping into things and dropping things!
On a good day its not too bad, but on a bad day i can be rubbish at holding onto things and not bumping into anything

most days are the same for me... I find myself juggling and dropping all manner of objects. bumping into walls, losing my balance.

yet certain actions which require an uncommon precision are OK for me.
for instance, playing music. I can be insanely precise in my physical movements when it comes to that. any instrument, it doesn't matter.

driving. fortunately, I have developed (through practice) acutely precise driving skills. I seem to be able to anticipate situations on the road before they happen, and I love to practice my peripheral awareness while driving. It's fun to see just exactly what your brain can do while you are moving 80+mph.

anyways, this is a very good thread.
I've done my share of clumsy things. there are still ketchup stains on the kitchen ceiling from when I dropped a huge, full bottle of it. there are probably still glass shards from the salt and pepper shakers I've dropped.

I have to be really engaged in what I'm doing, or my mind starts to wander, and I end up doing clumsy things