How do you manage to live a normal life?

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on a more serious note than my first post:

Define "normal" life? What, exactly, kind of life to you want?

lets put aside the question "What's a normal life" ...

Here's how I deal with MY life

I live alone in a house I recently bought. Since I cannot remember to pay bills or the like, there's been no heating in the house since February (keep forgetting to order oil) ... but all regular bills are set to pay automatically via direct debit. (DD is always your friend).

I have a standing grocery list with the local supermarket, which I get delivered once a week. Thus I always have food in the house (unless I step over the box at the door so often that the food goes off). This bill is paid by Direct debit also.

I never tidy ... who cares? When one of my family come to visit, they b***h about the mess ... my answer is always - if you don't like it, you can clean it up - I don't care.

I'm really bad at getting up on time ... but no matter how late I am, I do go to work ... however, that only possible because my boss needs me more than he needs someone who can turn up on time ... (there's only one other person in Europe who can do the job I do to the same level - for some reason, people say I'm an arrogant bastard ). I still get in trouble regularly for lateness.

The work I do means I can avoid interacting with other people except when they specifically chose to ask me about my special interest.

When I get home, I can watch tv or surf the web as I want. Noone is gonna complain. When I'm at home ... I regularly stay up playing games such as CIV III / IV for 6 or more hours ... probably explains why I'm late for work so often.

I often forget to eat ... but because I have diabetes, I have alarm clocks all over the place to remind me to eat and remind me to take my meds.

I do have weekend custody of my two kids ... when they're around, I allow them to decide what to do and when to do it. My ex regularly complains that I forget to feed the kids ... but hey - if they're hungry, they can ask me to cook, or go get food from the press.

I don't really have a "social life" ... going out to the pub is akin to torture for me! I bring the kids to the cinema at least twice a month ... but that means that I only get to see PG or U films

I plan on starting a Masters course in September ... no exams, just a series of projects and theses. I probably won't end up meeting very many more people ... but I'll spend all night studying Computer Security topics instead of playing CIV

Is my life dysfunctional ... definitely
Is my life "normal" ... I doubt it
Am I happy with my life ... more or less

Your milage may vary ... but deciding what you want from your life is far more important than trying to conform to what NT's consider normal.

i don't have a normal life. i live alone with a cat, two computers and some furniture. i have a few people that i see occasionally, but i don't have a social life at all. nor a boyfriend or anyone that might be interested in me. i don't really leave the house unless it's to work, run errands, etc. this is normal for me, but probably abnormal to the rest of the world.

don't get me wrong, i enjoy being independent and not having to deal with roommates, but it's very lonely. if i could meet someone who shared common interests and wasn't very social, i think the loneliness part would dissipate a bit. i find it very hard to "connect" and usually if i do, i feel like i am seeing something that doesn't even exist.

I'm 35. I have a roof over my head, (some) food in the fridge, a toddler, a car, not a lot of debt... And I am often terrified that I won't be able to maintain it. Pretty much my whole life, I've had these crises. The fact is, I'm just not a reliably functional person. I have read that everybody feels like they're faking it. But when I have a shutdown, I can't even fake it.

I've had a lot of financial help from my family over the years. I have a job that I'm very good at that allows me to not interact with people very much except through e-mail. But even with that, if I'm having a shutdown day, the e-mails coming in from clients that I'm not answering convince me that one of these days I'm going to miss some crucial deadline and my reputation will be shot...

I only learned how to boil an egg a few months ago. I often ask my daughter's father to feed her in the evening: "I'm feeling autistic today."

I forgot to mention: Last winter/spring, when I was having a really rough time, I hired an assistant. I was really lucky to find somebody (a neighbour, which is how I knew her) I got along with really well. She was super together, on the ball, gave me all the detail I wanted but would just give me the synopsis if I was feeling overwhelmed, had no problem with my "quirks", was persistent as a terrier... Now her summer job takes up all of her time. *( We're still friends, but I sure miss having her as an assistant! She bought my car for me, hired my nanny, got my computer fixed, found my apartment for me, helped me pack, helped me move... I don't know where I would be without her!

Normal life? What is a normal life exactly? The most I realistically hope for is a productive and self sustaining life, one where I could work, pay all of my own bills, live far away from my family on my own. Maybe if I can really get it together some sort of love life on top of all that, then somewhere in between pursue some of my interests after spending most of my waking hours working/keeping said love interest... interested.

I unrealistically hope for quite a bit more but I won't go into that, no need to be depressing.

I work full time, going to work is not a problem for me. In fact i hate taking time off as it breaks my routine. Ive had 1 day off since January. I enjoy my job, the people i work with are aware of ms AS and are totaly cool about it. It does help i feel that they are all slightly older and more understanding and not likely to take the mickey.

I have a group of freinds i have met through various hobbies of mine and they keep me busy when i am not working.

Im still living at home with my mum and younger brother but i am fairly independant, i can remember to do 99.99% of things myself without prompt.

"How do you manage to live a normal life?"

With an immense amount of strength and a capacity to bounce back from the inevitable s**t that lands on my plate!!

Everything that could go wrong does go wrong in my life and that has always been the common thread.

I am learning as I get older to not put myself in situations that are potentially dangerous or threatening.

I keep going, simply because the alternatives are not too favourable.

I won't dribble on about what I have and how I keep it that way because there is no formula or set of rules to follow that keep me on my path.

However I know that I have so much to learn, even with a diagnosis it does not make me want to sit back and be pandered to. I want to acheive everything regardless of a label.

Everybody has fears that they are not doing or acheiving what they should be at some stage of life, even if it is only a fleeting thought.
I have had everything I thought I wanted and lost it the hardest way I wouldn't wish upon anyone, and I have had things that I wouldn't in a million years actively seek that have been the most treasured.
That's life as Frank once said!!

I don't

Why whould anyone want to?

Define "normal". I honestly don't know what "normal" means.

I can play "normal" for a few hours at a time. Usually I end up wanting my alone time where no demands are made on me. It helps to have a sense of humor and occasionally waive my middle finger at social convention. A lot of my current functioning was brought on by hard and fast realities that I had to either learn immediately or let them consume me. Some days, I find it hard to balance the constant pulls for my attention (family, bills, housework, future plans, etc.). Prescription meds help to even out the stress and my reaction to it.

There is no "nornmal" thats just a stereo type imagine, we are all unique individuals and the diversity and differences makes life more interesting - we have not been cloned yet

With great difficulty.

I mostly 'pass for normal'. Well, ish.

But the worst thing for me is executive dysfunction when it comes to organising paying bills, keeping track of my finances. I'm pretty useless at that. I need a book-keeper or accountant or something. Or a PA. Or a 'wife' (I'm a straight woman!) lol!

I have a cleaner who comes once a week and dusts everything (I live in a city next to a desert in the Middle East and sand dust is impossible to keep on top off). My cleaner drives me a bit barmy with tidying things away though. She's more OCD-ish than I am.

Arad? That place is terrible for dust on furniture.