What advice would you give to your younger self?
Maybe Big Rocket learns something from someone who can travel through the gravity well of a rotating black hole at just the right velocity?
LOL.
1. You know how you wonder why you feel so different. Well, it?s because you are. You will get diagnosed with Aspergers later in your life. You know all those things you struggle with? Well, I can explain them all with this diagnosis. Your lack of friends (and no, I do not count your stuffed animals and blanket as ?real? friends)? Check. The sensory issues? Check. The planning and goal setting issues? Check. Your constant worrying? Check. Your depression? Check. Your poor motor skills in sports? Check. I could go on, but don?t have time. Anyways, there is some bad news. It?s not curable. So, you must learn to live with it the rest of your life. I suggest you simply learn all you can about it (more information will be available in the early 1990s). Accept it. Don?t fight it.
2. Be skeptical of the personal advice you receive from others (known as neurotypicals). It might be appropriate for other neurotypicals. But, it likely will not be appropriate for you.
3. Commit to writing in a journal daily.
4. The next time you visit the Dr. K, the Psychologist (which you will visit in 3rd and 7th grades), throw him for a loop. Mention Hans Aspergers and ask him to research this guy. Tell him he can become famous if he is able to translate his works before others beat him to the punch.
5. You will start working in the mid 1980s. Save a lot of money and buy Cisco stock in early 1992. Buy as much as you can. Sell it on May 1, 2000.?
Edit: Oops. There were only 5 pieces of advise, not 6.
Excellent advice.
You might also have advised strategic Microsoft and Apple purchases and sales....
I could have. Though I chose Cisco because in 1991, Little Rocket was a young software engineer working with Cisco equipment. Little Rocket was quite enamored with Cisco?s terminal servers. He thought it was so cool that you could use them to connect all these disparate computers together. So, Little Rocket called up a family member asking if it made sense to buy some of their stock. He was told it could be a bit risky. So, Little Rocket passed. Little Rocket could have made a bundle (Cisco went from split adjusted .50 cents to over $70). Big Rocket sad. LOL.
I could write loads of advice to my younger self and am pretty sure that at that age much of it would have been ignored but hopefully I might have listened as time went by!
1 - Go to sixth form at another school - your Mum means well in trying to persuade you to stay where you are but the simple truth is you hate it there. Avoid all girl environments, approx 20 years you later have pretty much given up on having girly friendships, aside from the odd exception (many of whom are tomboyish and eccentric like yourself) this is something you just don't excel at!
2 - You are not having a mental breakdown or predicting the future with these 'episodes' you are currently having, basically you are epileptic, if you go to the doctors and get put on pills these will dissapear aside from the odd episode if you are super stressed.
3 - Stop comparing yourself with your sisters, I know that is what everyone is doing but the simple truth is that it doesn't serve any purpose and is toxic to your self esteem. They do seem to have it all especially as far as looks and social ability are concerned. Rather than getting angry and then punishing yourself, take a step back, appreciate what you are good at and then make the most of that. Also remember that you have so many things to be thankful for, don't let this comparison game distort your view.Also this world you are currently living in is not the real world - not every teenager in the country is good looking socially savvy and achieving straight As, being at this school has distorted your view. You have traits that later in life they will envy you for, this isn't a one way street although it feels that way at the moment. This might sound drastic but until you have all learnt to be adults and to stop relying on your mum so much it makes sense to get away from this situation if possible.
4 - You are correct that something isn't quite normal but it is not what you think it is. Rather than trying really hard at uni to be a certain way in order to explain this difference, keep quiet as to what you think the issue is, work hard and make the most of all opportunities.
5 - Write a list of what you want to do and go for it! Life is an adventure, if you don't want what everyone else seems to want, it really doesn't matter. Imagine how good you will feel by accomplishing those goals and how inspired you will feel towards challenges in the future.
6 - Read some self help books on socialising and especially one that will be in your Dad's Kindle collection. Best wishes!
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Some very interesting replies so far. I don't understand all of them and I am sure some things in my list are not understandable to others. That is ok because making it understandable to others while a good thing is not point of this therapeutic exercise. I am looking at things in my past I have forgotten about or just buried an are finally dealing with them in light of now knowing why they happened.
Instead of burying these important events in our lives like we have in the past I hope for all of you that we can now as an older and wiser people deal with them, shed whatever tears need to be shed about them, learn what ever lessons need to be learned from them and finally truly move beyond them.
Good Luck
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DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
"Most everyone has a hidden agenda most of the time. Your life will be as good as your skill at identifying the agendas of those on your way that matter, so start practising now."
"Don't waste your resources on trying to be liked. You're as good or as bad as you fit a given person's/group's hidden agenda."
"As soon as you finish high school, move to Canada."
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There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats - Albert Schweitzer
Bras make wonderful catapults
Adolescence is like a long dissociative fugue state from which you emerge with no memory of who you are
Loiter around vending machines for long enough and you will gather much coinage
If loitering doesn't work motivation and a well stocked box of tools will prize open the most stubborn machine
Doesn't the inside of the freezer just make your tongue tingle. Go on taste it. Its delicious. Just wait till the lamp posts are covered in ice!
If you dig deep enough you WILL get to the other side of the Earth.
From age 1-7 you have 6 years to get rich at the expense of every adult within visual range. Find a busy street corner buy tap shoes a top hat and a cane. Learn to tap dance and at the end of your routine place top hat on ground.
People are at best to be avoided and at worst to be tolerated
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IMPORTANT PLEASE READ ! !
My history on this forum preserves my old and unregenerate self. In the years since I posted here I have undergone many changes. I accept responsibility for my posts but I no longer stand behind them.
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And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high Hebrews 1:3
- You can't run away from yourself, don't try, learn to like yourself, you're actually OK. And not being able to fit in is no reflection on your value as a person.
- Not being good at something at school doesn't mean you're not good at it - you may be good at it if it were taught a different way.
- Being able to talk to people after a few pints is not learning social skills.
- It's not your fault you find things hard, you are not stupid, useless or lazy.
- When you have friends hold on to them. Don't assume that because you've made one friend you'll be able to make more. It's not that easy for you (but again it's not your fault).
''I know you want your younger cousins to be at least 17 and over so that you won't feel like you have to be responsible for them when in their company just because you're 3 years older, enjoy them while they're still kids. Because once they do get out of their teens, they will be finding relationships and driving about and wanting to move out of their parent's home very soon and then you will feel like you're being left behind.''
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that life is NOT fair!! !, if you expect life, reality, the world to be fair with you, then your fooling yourself, thats like expecting a lion to not eat you because you didn't eat the lion, and don't try to be resentful, fight the status-quo, social-norm, unwritten rule that the guy has to make the first move and ask the girl out first, be the initiator, yes it is not fair, so that means dating is not fair either, because it will be a futile effort if you try to fight against it, and take college education seriously, ambition seriously especially if you are a guy as in human male, since unfortuneately as a guy, man, life, society, culture, reality, harshly judges, values, defines guys by their job, career, occupation, stability, income, societal position, what you are doing with your life or where you are headed in life, yes you should be doing it for yourself, not because its what society tells you, but it seems to be the main thing guys have to accomplish, acquire if they want to be successful with women and in life in general, get respect from life, reality, society, etc.
Find out as much as you can about the work of Hans Asperger. (He worked in Vienna, capital city of Austria.)
School work and exams need only be "good enough". Concentrate on dealing with people, that's where you are weak.
Forget even trying to have the kind of "relationship" society views as ideal. You already have the correct idea of what would be right for you. (Here are the terms you might need to know. Even though they won't exist until the 1990's to 21st century.)
I wouldn't give any advice to myself because everything I went through made me who I am today. If any of that changed, I don't know where I would be in life.
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I would have told myself to not do to other kids I don't like being done to me. Don't do stuff to other kids I wouldn't want done to me. If things are not going your way, walk away. Do not try to control the situation. Do not worry about what others thing nor care what they think, they don't know you. Do not try and impress people, once people have formed an opinion about you, you cannot change it in them and nothing you do will ever be good enough for them.
I would have also told myself "Look, there are rules but not everyone is going to follow them, people will break them, think they don't apply to them, think they can get away with it and will try, just because someone breaks a rule and doesn't get in trouble doesn't mean the rule has changed and it's now okay to do." But I doubt I would have listened because my mom tried telling me about how other kids will test their limits and they know when to stop and I didn't listen.
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Son: Diagnosed w/anxiety and ADHD. Also academic delayed and ASD lv 1.
Daughter: NT, no diagnoses. Possibly OCD. Is very private about herself.
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