Do you get a "stuck" feeling?

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There is a feeling that I have gotten, often, throughout my life. I'm not sure how to explain it, but I'm wondering if it's a common AS thing. The best I can describe it is a sense of being stuck. I don't mean by external circumstances, although that can be a factor. I mean by my own brain. Like I want to do something creative or useful, but a certain kind of tiredness or paralysis holds me back. It's like, I feel calm and content mostly, but deep down inside there is this combination feeling of anxiety, procrastination, disorganization, fatigue, and goodness-knows what else. It's a feeling that can last for months.

It's like, I have to sit and think, or read messages on this board, or stare at a blank document, or something...hoping for a moment of clarity. But I don't know what the question is. I just feel like when that moment of clarity comes, I'll be able to successfully organize my house and my life, and keep it that way. I'll be able to find important papers when I need them, prepare balanced meals for my kids each evening, plan for the future (immediate and distant), and make the most of myself. But that clarity has been eluding me for so long.


I just know that I feel very tired, and my self-esteem is very low (in large part because of being dependent on my husband to do all the things I'm afraid to do, or do badly.)

When I think of people that I admire, one of the key things is that they just go ahead and do a variety of things; they might feel nervous when they try new things, but they learn and grow. I feel like the only way I "grow" is by accumulating bits academic knowledge (because I read everything), but as far as doing, experiencing, and creating, I can't seem to do any of that. I'm not sure how exactly that relates to the "stuck" feeling, but I feel like mentioning it.

Does this make any sense to anyone?

This kind of makes sense. I often get a 'stuck' feeling in my brain - it's actually a physical sensation - and at those times I can't really do anything. I just wander around feeling on-edge, or go to sleep. I can't settle on any idea or think deeply on it or do anything about it. It often occurs when I'm tired or overloaded, and can last from a day to several weeks. Usually at those times I just want to sit and stare at nothing for hours, just be by myself in a place with no sensory stimulation whatsoever. I don't know if that's quite what you meant...

I often get that "stuck" feeling as well; I thought I was the only one! It usually hinders me from sewing and writing, and sometimes it hinders me from speaking as well.

I knew I couldn't be the only person who had this problem.

Yes! I have been struggling to find an adequate way to describe that feeling and you, my friend, have done it! I recently tried to explain that to a teacher who questioned me about it and I couldn't. I was so upset with myself for not knowing how to do so that I had to quickly exit to room to avoid tears...anywho, yeah, I can relate to that.

Wow! I look away for 15 minutes, and I've got all these responses. And people actually know what I'm talking about! Gotta love that!

Happy Christmas Eve, everyone!

I get that feeling all the time!

It's just so frustrating when I want to do something and find that I have absolutely no motivation for it when it comes time. It seems like all the good ideas will come to me while I'm randomly thinking, but when I get to the computer or a notebook to write them down the ideas will be gone.

Being a student, it seems like there is always more and more work to be done and never enough time to finish it all. When it is all finally finished, there are other obligations, such as planning for college. When leisure time comes around, there are even more obligations. (I'm a volunteer moderator on the official forums for Runescape and have a very important job in a Runescape clan.)

I just wish that my life would stop moving forward at times, and that I could just sit down in a chair alone and do nothing until I recover from this stuck feeling.

I don't know if this "stuck" feeling is due to autism - quite honestly I'd be surprised if everyone didn't feel this way from time to time.

Well, I don't know if it is something associated with AS or not, but I certainly experience it too.

Projects I want to do, I quickly stop doing. I get "stuck" feeling. I have the ideas and some methods all ready to be put to work, and suddenly it feels like it's just too much, and I get a feeling of being stuck there. I give up right away, and instantly occupy my mind with something else to remove that feeling.

It's a frustrating thing for me because I'm going to college to become a professional in such. I need to do more projects for experience, but I just give up instantly because of that feeling.

Yeah I get that sometimes.

The disorganization and procrastination things happens to me a lot too. To help a bit, I've begin writing a daily to do list of very simple things I know should do, but could just as well easily put off doing ( i bought a small notebook specifically for this purpose). So I add things like "buy yogurt" or "clean apartment" with the day's date , and then cross them off when I get around to doing them. This way, it makes me feel like I'm not forgetting anything and leaving anything behind as the days go by.

Then recently, I've begun sneaking other "slightly" more ambitious things inside. Like I wanted to learn how to cook. So I added "buy cookbook", and "make Life list". I've found that by putting these thigns down on paper, I'm more likely to do them, and to feel a sense of accomplishment when I check them off. I'm still a long way from "make friends", "get girlfriend", etc... but I'm hoping that these everyday "little things" will lead to something more concrete.

I also think when you say that you don't know the question, it may be because there is no question and hence no answer to the question. Which isn't to say that clarity is impossible. I just think that the idea of attaining clarity/enlightenment by hoping/forcing it to happen by guessing the correct "question" just isn't going to work. It could be more helpful to get the small things done first, and then to worry about the "human condition" thing that I think, bother's most everyone (even regular folk). Plus, personally, the failure to obtain any clarity in a given amount of time would just make me feel even worse.

I generally only get that feeling when there are a lot of things I'm supposed to do. I get overwhelmed, and then I get stuck and can't get myself to do any of them.

Yes, I often had it. I definetely dislike it. I don't know whether this is really something only AS has, maybe NT's haveit too, but in a less severe way, though I never saw it by NT's.

In some way I've learned myself to get rid of this ''stuck feeling'' by forcing myself to get up, do something and clear my mind. OMG, I call it ''stuck'' too, in Dutch! (like ''I'm stuck in my head'')