#30DaysofAutismAcceptance

[birdofmay]

30 Days of Autism Acceptance 2023

Hello, apparently I act as a substitute teacher this autism acceptance month 😄 @autie-j is busy, so my therapist and I spontaneously thought of 30 questions for 2023 - to be "published" before 1 April 2023 starts in the timezone UTC+14. Which... wasn't much time. If you see this, we made it! 😎

Rules:

Copy and paste the question you want to answer into an own post - this means don't answer via reblog!

You can answer as many or as few as you like. No force, for real.

Tag your post as #30daysofautismacceptance and #2023

1 April: The typical introduction question! Tell us something about yourself. If you can't think of anything, try these: What do you enjoy to do in your free time? What music or series/show do you like? Are you happy with your current living situation/the people you live with? What's one of your favourite foods?

2 April: When were you diagnosed and when did you know that you're autistic? If you're self-diagnosed, when did you first suspect that you're autistic and when were you sure?

3 April: How good or bad is your memory for things people say? For example verbal instructions. If you're deaf: Can you lip read? Do you think your autism influences your ability to lip read?

4 April: Were/are you in special education? Regular school? Home schooled? A private school? Did it change over time? Did/do you like it?

5 April: Did/do you have accommodations at school/IEP? If not, do you think it would help/have helped you?

6 April: Can you understand what people say when they talk fast, or do you lose track after a while? Was it different when you were younger? Additional question if your hearing is aided: If your hearing is aided, does that trigger sensory overloads sometimes?

7 April: Do you have other diagnoses? What are they? Do you think that some could be incorrect?

8 April: Do you struggle to read long texts or are you one of those people who can read everything with ease (Braille counts too of course)? If you're blind, do you struggle to pay attention when a screen reader reads a long text, or is it ok?

9 April: Did an interest ever turn into an "obsession" for you? If not, do you regularly experience hyperfocus when you engage in your special interest? If nothing applies, tell us about your longest interest, no matter if it's a special interest or not!

10 April: Can you understand speech when there is background noise? If you're deaf: Could you understand speech when you were younger? If your hearing is aided: Does the sound make listening to speech uncomfortable to you?

11 April: If you learned to speak as a child (definition for this post: the ability to use spontaneous speech (mouth words) to communicate in at least two-word sentences), did your ability to speak improve after that, stayed the same, decrease, or did something happen that you can't speak at all anymore now?

If you never learned to speak, did it take you a while to find a good communication method (for example sign language didn't work, communication board was too confusing, but AAC device is ok)?

12 April: Were/are you in speech therapy? If so, for what? If not, do you think speech therapy could have helped you?

13 April: How important are routines to you? Are your routines more based on time ("I always do this at 6pm!"), on habits ("I always drink from this cup!") or both?

14 April: If you learned to speak as a child, were you a late talker, average age, or did you speak at a really young age? If you never learned to speak, how do you communicate? For example an AAC device, sign language, a communication board, etc.

15 April: If you can perceive the facial expression of others and learned to recognise the meaning to a degree, did you learn that in social skills training, by your own "hard work", or was it a mix of both? Are there patterns that you understand intuitively (for example recognising fear because it's not so different from how you behave when you feel fear)? - if this question doesn't apply to you, you have a day off! :)

16 April: If you can perceive the facial expression of others, but struggle to learn the meaning, are there strategies you use to at least guess if the person reacts in a good, neutral or bad way to you (for example to spot if you made someone angry by accident)? Do you rely on how their voice sounds as a backup? - if this question doesn't apply to you, not even in your childhood, you have a day off! :)

17 April: If you can't perceive the facial expression of others (for example because you focus too much on details, struggle to perceive people in general, or because you're blind), do you pay attention to the tone of their voice? Can you hear if someone is angry if they don't tell you? - if this question doesn't apply to you, you have a day off! :)

18 April: If you can perceive the facial expression of others, how long does it take you to spot a pattern in new people (for example you observe someone for a while and at some point you know "This person is insecure because they always have that look when they're insecure")? - if this question doesn't apply to you, you have a day off! :)

19 April: Did your ability to express yourself improve or worsen/deteriorate over time? Or did it stay the same? Is it different depending on how you communicate (spoken language, written language, signed...)?

20 April: If you can (or could when you were younger) say words with your mouth (echolalia counts), did/do you have a monotone or "odd" voice, speak too loudly/softly, etc.? Did/do you practice to modulate your voice?

21 April: If you can (or could when you were younger) say words with your mouth, did/do you struggle to pronounce words or sounds? For example r, th, s, etc. - if this question doesn't apply to you, you have a day off :)

22 April: If you can speak (the ability to use spontaneous speech (mouth words) to communicate in at least two-word sentences), do you experience speech loss/verbal shutdowns, etc.? Meaning that you normally can speak, but sometimes you suddenly can't anymore. Semiverbal/semispeaking people and unreliably speaking people (apraxia), you count as "speaking" if you can use spontaneous(!) speech most of the time.

If you can't speak, are there times when communication suddenly is harder than usual? If not, was it different when you were younger?

23 April: Do you have balance issues? If not, was it different when you were younger?

24 April: How did your fine motor skills develop? Were you one of the first kids who could tie their shoe laces or do you think you'll probably never learn it? This is an "open question", if you want to ramble, start rambling.

25 April: How did your gross motor skills develop? Did you walk early or did you struggle to walk (if you can walk)? Do you have a bad posture? This is another "open question".

26 April: If you're interested in other people/want contact, how do you normally make contact with others? Do you stay where you are and hope that they approach you, or do you approach them?

If you're not interested in other people, do others respect and understand that? Were you negatively affected by the "autistics are very social actually and want friends, they just don't know how to do that!" mentality (for example that everyone tries to force social interactions because they think you secretly want social contacts)?

27 April: If you have/want real-life friends, how much contact is important for you and when is it too much? Do/would you miss your friends if you wouldn't see each other in person for a while?

28 April: As a child, did you tend to express yourself overly formally? Or did you struggle with grammar? Did you "borrow" words and expressions from other people or media, or did you make up your own words? Or both?

29 April: Was your hand-eye coordination delayed or maybe is still impaired? This includes things like throwing and catching a ball, putting a key into a lock without missing it, etc. Everything where your brain needs to process what your eyes see so that your hands can adjust what they do. If you're blind, tell us if you think your autism made it harder for you to estimate where things are, using your hands.

30 April: If you're interested in other people/want contact, did you try to make friends on your own when you were younger, or didn't you initiate anything because you didn't know what to do?

If you're not interested in other people, did/do you still enjoy online contact? If not, did/do people assume you're lonely and try to interact with you all the time?

[five-thousand-loaves-of-bread]

2 April: When were you diagnosed and when did you know that you're autistic? If you're self-diagnosed, when did you first suspect that you're autistic and when were you sure?

this probably will surprise most everyone but actually late diagnosed. late adolescence. i knew first and then professional diagnosis. before regression though.

not really typical late diagnosis experience though. born in country where… to illustrate what US know about autism in early 2000s is like what birth country knowledge now in 2020s. not like US or western public school where teacher on look out and government require provide assessment.

of course back then and there if severe autism nonverbal past age 5 or 7 or 8 would still get noticed (and most likely institutionalized). but when young was probably like classic level 2 moderate (higher now), semiverbal (all the time), situationally mute (the anxiety from time to time one), etc and visibly different. so. not quite there.

and for so long not medicalized even with many struggle mid support needs because… kind of normalized in family. no one expected me to do any chores like cook clean laundry for example.

but because some big change in teen/adolescence, this was period probably appeared “most allistic” (because of above + heavy mask + clouded by extreme mental illness stuff). and ironically this is period where realize autistic…. lol.

now after major major regression, ironically actually have even harder time getting updated testing & neuropsych compared to when first realize/dx autistic (when able mask), lol. reason is literally no one take adult nonverbal person + transportation so significantly limited can only do telehealth.

[perplexingluciddreams]

26th April:

If you’re interested in other people/want contact, how do you normally make contact with others? Do you stay where you are and hope that they approach you, or do you approach them? If you’re not interested in other people, do others respect and understand that? Were you negatively affected by the “autistics are very social actually and want friends, they just don’t know how to do that!” mentality?

I have very little genuine interest in people/interaction. I interact with people to get things I want or need, and otherwise am much happier with as little human contact as possible.

I have three friends that I’ve ever managed to make (and semi-keep). Two are from high school, one is from music things outside of school (who I barely talk to ever, but still consider a friend I suppose). I am very lucky to have these friends, and I enjoy writing letters/emails/text messages back and forth. However I must be completely honest when I say that in-person interaction just makes me incredibly anxious and overwhelmed and I can’t focus or process anything. So I don’t like to be around people in person. I can cope with being in the same room as one person for a limited amount of time, and even then I am exhausted, and it’s not always particularly enjoyable. I don’t want to ever offend people or make them think I don’t appreciate them by saying this, but this is the most honest answer I can give.

I don’t approach people to interact and I rarely ever have (unless my body was being particularly unruly and my outward behaviour made someone think I was interacting). A few of my earliest memories as a toddler are being completely baffled at adults or other kids suddenly talking to me or taking a toy from me to “play with me”. I just didn’t understand why they did that - I now think it’s probably because I may have outwardly looked as if I was trying to get someone’s attention or interact, which was not the case.

At school sometimes well-meaning people would see me sat in a nice, safe, quiet corner, and assume that because I was sitting alone with my head down, rocking, or waving a hand in front of my face, or running my hands through my hair with my head down and eyes closed, I must be upset or lonely. But unfortunately their decision to “stop me from being lonely”, just completely shattered my wee safe space that I’d created.

I was “adopted” into a group at some point, somehow. I didn’t mind it so much because it’s how I met my two friends, and it sometimes felt safer when I was not such an easy target for bullying, sitting alone. And that group didn’t seem to mind it when I sat with my headphones on and ignored them completely a good chunk of the time.

That’s the height of my socialisation, sitting in a group of people, completely ignoring them. And I would spend one-on-one time with each of my two friends, which I liked because it felt nice to have someone care about me - although those memories are tinged by the tremendous anxiety and upset I was feeling at my body doing and saying things I didn’t want it to. It seemed to be the worst around my friends, because I care about them and want them to like me and want them to care about me too. Which is a fairly strange feeling to me, I’m not used to feeling that. I only feel this towards these two specific people (I love you, thanks for being such wonderful loyal friends).

Most other people I’m either totally unaware of unless they directly get my attention, or I just don’t give two shits 😂.

Now that my interest in people has decreased even further (I think this is more a “growing up” thing than a regression thing, actually), I don’t want to spend in-person time with my friends, just interact online and through text communication (letters, emails, text messaging, etc.).

(Also, there is the pesky little detail of me being unaware of the passage of time... plus the fact that I regularly forget of people's existence unless I'm constantly reminded...)

[defectivegembrain]

3 April: How good or bad is your memory for things people say? For example verbal instructions. If you're deaf: Can you lip read? Do you think your autism influences your ability to lip read?

It's something of a wildcard tbh. I will forget verbal instructions I got two minutes ago while remembering something said ten years ago word for word. And I can't always predict which things. I'm more likely to remember if it has to do with a special interest though.

[shepfax]

30 days of autism acceptance; day 5

Did/do you have accommodations at school/IEP? If not, do you think it would help/have helped you?

I didn't have an IEP or (formal) accomodations in elementary, middle, or high school. some of my HS teachers knew I had difficulties and would be flexible with me; letting me wear my headphones, extra time on assignments, breaks, etc. nothing was on paper since at the time all I was diagnosed with was anxiety. I have accommodations now that I'm in college. They help me immensely and have greatly contributed to my success and confidence.

my accomodations include

the use of my headphones in class to block out background noise. during "small group discussions" when everyone is talking at once I get overstimulated, plus my classes have fluorescent lights that buzz

lecture recording. the app I mentioned in my last post generates live digital transcripts that I can revisit and highlight as words are being said

no cold-calling. if I don't raise my hand the instructor won't call on me

alternate format textbooks. I don't have to use this one much in the era of digital textbooks but it's so I can pay the bookstore price for a digital textbook format to load into a program that reads the text out loud

deadline extension. if I need more time to understand an assignment I can tell my instructor before it's due and they can grant up to 3 days extension

[tales-from-nocturnaliss]

30 Days of Autism Acceptance 2023 - Day 20

If you wanna participate, check out @birdofmay's blog or click through this link! It's never too late ;)

20 April: If you can (or could when you were younger) say words with your mouth (echolalia counts), did/do you have a monotone or "odd" voice, speak too loudly/softly, etc.? Did/do you practice to modulate your voice?

I don't recall what my voice sounded like as a kid, since I didn't speak much except at home. However, and this is very specific to where I live, I felt overly conscious of not being able to roll my R's in my flemish (I'm a native french speaker), as it is the norm... and I taught myself to do just that by practicing an accent. I don't remember which. I only remember it being used by comedians.

French being a singing language, my tone fluctuates a LOT - and I take that in all three of my known languages. It's become my norm. And I absolutely love it, since I love joking around and making people laugh. I can even pinpoint when I started enjoying that: when, back in my last school after transferring there, I dropped a joke in class... and people laughed. And I was like: omg I am accepted O.O. And the rest is incomplete history. XD

The husband does often tell me I'm loud, especially when I'm playing with my UK mates and have my headphones on. He also says my laugh is false. Which I still don't understand. I guess he doesn't grasp that language does change the tone of your laugh (like The Simpsons taught us <<)

[frog-sorta-speaks]

30 days of Autism Acceptance

1 April: The typical introduction question! Tell us something about yourself. If you can't think of anything, try these: What do you enjoy to do in your free time? What music or series/show do you like? Are you happy with your current living situation/the people you live with? What's one of your favourite foods?

Hi! I’m Frog :D

I spend most of my free time playing video games, though right now I’m Stage Managing my schools musical which is a lot of fun!

My favorite bands are MCR, Nirvana, and Wallows, though I like pretty much any kind of rock.

And my favorite food is Popcorn, especially kettle corn

[thefeathercollective]

21 April: If you can (or could when you were younger) say words with your mouth, did/do you struggle to pronounce words or sounds? For example r, th, s, etc. - if this question doesn't apply to you, you have a day off :)

YES. goodness, yes. "TH" is a bitch, we cannot talk fast without stumbling on every single word, it's- I do not have the braincells to write a proper response right now but Speech Hard :(

[garlic-the-gnome]

1 April

Hi I'm Garlic! I like puppetry, theatre, craft and gnomes. My favourite movies are Gnomeo & Juliet, Jurassic Park, Tinkerbell and I've currently been watching Frozen on repeat. Recently I've been watching The Walking Dead but I also love Community, Bluey, Bobs Burgers, MLP, Monster High and Camp Cretaceous. I live with my family (I'm not able to live by myself). I'm also really into making puppets!

2 April: When were you diagnosed and when did you know that you're autistic?

I was diagnosed when I was 15 but my psychologist from when I was around 8 or 9 told my parents it was highly likely that I was autistic but my parents decided not to investigate further.

3 April: How good or bad is your memory for things people say? For example verbal instructions.

My memory is extremely good for useless information either trivia or just stuff I generally don't need to know. I do find it hard to remember instructions so I often write them down or have someone else leave me a to-do list.

4 April: Were/are you in special education? Regular school? Home schooled? A private school? Did it change over time? Did/do you like it?

I've been in public school all my life but I had to attend some classes that were different to my peers when I was younger like social groups (which I attended up until the age of 13) and basic sport skills (like catching things). I liked school up until the age of around 10 when all my peers started having more complex relationships (things like friendship drama). I'm on track to graduate this year so I'm looking forward to leaving school behind me though currently school isn't to bad

5 April: Did/do you have accommodations at school/IEP?

Yes. I have exemptions from events like assemblies and sports day as they are too loud for me and overwhelm me as well as an exit card to leave class without talking to the teacher.

9 April: Did an interest ever turn into an "obsession" for you? If not, do you regularly experience hyperfocus when you engage in your special interest? If nothing applies, tell us about your longest interest, no matter if it's a special interest or not!

I've been told that I have the tendency to get obsessed with things. I spend a lot of my time making things or reading about craft. I'll disappear to my room and emerge several hours later with my newest creation.

10 April: Can you understand speech when there is background noise? If you're deaf: Could you understand speech when you were younger? If your hearing is aided: Does the sound make listening to speech uncomfortable to you?

I have trouble understanding what others are saying to me when there are background sounds. Even when there isn't background noise I often mishear what people say which can be quite frustrating but most people don't get annoyed when I misunderstand (one time I was told to make two milos but it actually was water the tomatoes, needless to say my dad was amused when I gave him the two hot drinks)

12 April: Were/are you in speech therapy? If so, for what? If not, do you think speech therapy could have helped you?

I've never attended speech therapy but oddly enough a speech therapist helped diagnose me with asd.

[jdeck306]

Hadn't yet taken the time the last few days, so I'll post the first three days at once!

1 April: The typical introduction question! Tell us something about yourself. If you can't think of anything, try these: What do you enjoy to do in your free time? What music or series/show do you like? Are you happy with your current living situation/the people you live with? What's one of your favourite foods?

Hiya! You can call me J, I'm 22, and I work in Data Security. Just started last month, in fact, and I love what I do! It's for work experience, and I don't yet have a salary, but soon enough, it will lead to a detachment period.

As for hobbies and the like, I write stories, relating to characters in My Little Pony, whether it be canon characters, my own or those of others.

Still living with my parents, and though we clash sometimes, we're growing more tolerant of each other's behaviour.

2 April: When were you diagnosed and when did you know that you're autistic? If you're self-diagnosed, when did you first suspect that you're autistic and when were you sure?

Diagnosis actually was at the behest of a couple of teachers! One of whom was just surprised when in the middle of a volleyball match, I turned to her and asked her if she had ever seen Swan Lake by Tchaikovsky. She kinda figured there was something up with me. [positive]

But my English teacher in secondary school suggested to my parents to pursue a diagnosis, which I got when I was around 15, 16-ish? Never really knew what it was until I was told, but I always knew I was a bit different¹.

3 April: How good or bad is your memory for things people say? For example verbal instructions. If you're deaf: Can you lip read? Do you think your autism influences your ability to lip read?

hehe auditory processing disorder go BRRRRRRRRRR Most of the time, I can understand what people are saying, but other times, I have to ask them to repeat what they said, because what I hear versus what they say is like comparing apples to submarines.

But remembering what they said, it depends on what the subject matter is, for it it's something I am passionate about or in which I am interested, I'll remember it, but if not, it vanishes into /dev/null².

I'll try to keep these up!

¹Read: easy target for bullying ²Read: a black hole of information, gone forever

[birdofmay]

11 April: If you never learned to speak, did it take you a while to find a good communication method (for example sign language didn't work, communication board was too confusing, but AAC device is ok)?

It took me a while to realise that 1. I can communicate and 2. it's necessary to communicate 😄

So in my case it wasn't so much about finding a good communication method, it was about realising that I actually have to communicate sometimes.

As for what we tried: As far as I know we tried PECS, but I didn't understand that I needed to communicate at that point, so.... It was pointless 😂 But it worked to tell me what will be next. For example to make me aware of transitions: "You'll have to stop doing what you're doing right now, we'll go to the bathroom now and make you ready for bed" for example.

When I started to understand spoken language, pictures with words started to make more sense, and around 4 we started sign language, which was just right because I could express myself according to the pictures in my mind, not according to grammar rules.

Before school I got my first AAC device, which was confusing at first, but I started to like it soon.

- until my typing improved. At some point I was frustrated that my AAC devices had many restrictions compared to what I could type - that was when we switched to text-to-speech.

[five-thousand-loaves-of-bread]

9 April: Did an interest ever turn into an "obsession" for you? If not, do you regularly experience hyperfocus when you engage in your special interest? If nothing applies, tell us about your longest interest, no matter if it's a special interest or not!

yeah! in “restrictive repetitive” diagnostic category, behavior wise actually not as strong/intense as may expect compare to my social stuff! but! restrictive repetitive interests definitely very intense.

my interests in autism and other I/DD and disability justice!! very very intense right now, made it my entire life made it focus of my study!!! so literally engage in every day get to think about every day!!

before that was english lit! which similar thing happened! (but since in high school need take other classes so not entire life) (still obsessed in psych stuff during this time too but lit was stronger)

before that!! is ancient history especially middle ages & renaissance europe but!! all ancient history really cool. same thing happened :D

when very very young. was erasers… but keep in mind erasers where i grew up! many many fancy

[perplexingluciddreams]

30th April

If you’re interested in other people/want contact, did you try to make friends on your own when you were younger, or didn’t you initiate anything because you didn’t know what to do? If you’re not interested in other people, did/do you still enjoy online contact? If not, did/do people assume you’re lonely and try to interact with you all the time?

I’ve said before that I have limited interest in people. However, there are a handful of people who this doesn’t apply to (my few friends, my parents, my sister).

I rarely initiated any social interaction when I was younger, only a few times did I attempt it. Luckily for me, coincidence worked in my favour and lead me to meet my friends (I won’t name people but if you’re reading, you know who you are!).

In primary school I was awfully bullied and teased and I was being abused at that time also, so I was either terrified of people, or unaware/disinterested in them. I didn’t have any friends in primary school. There were a few people who took pity on me and tried to be kind a few times, but they all had their own groups and I was very much an outlier. I even went to the same dance class as a few of the girls in my class/year, and the parents shared car rides as we all lived close to each other. In the car and in the class they would almost completely ignore me.

I didn’t understand what friendship was when I was younger, it just seemed overwhelming and distressing to me. Anyone who even tried to converse with me, had to initiate it themselves and keep it going. I wasn’t really able to “keep a conversation going”, or understand “taking turns” in a conversation.

I enjoy online interaction very much! It helps me to process, understand, and form a reply in my own time, and this means that my replies over text messages are always what I want to say (as long as I have the words to say it - I still use a lot of scripts and my writing “blueprints”, and even more in the past).

I, of course, still struggle with interaction in any form, I struggle to understand other people’s emotions and reactions and so on. But online interactions have really helped me in understanding these things, and it has made me capable of being a bit of a better friend. I am still not the best (I forget dates of important things, forget that people exist, don’t usually initiate conversations even over text), but I’m always trying to be better and I appreciate the people who “put up with me” and are so patient and understanding.

[defectivegembrain]

9 April: Did an interest ever turn into an "obsession" for you? If not, do you regularly experience hyperfocus when you engage in your special interest? If nothing applies, tell us about your longest interest, no matter if it's a special interest or not!

Yes, I have been consistently obsessive about my interests all throughout my life. My longest special interest has been linguistics. I've technically had this since I was 15, but even before that I always had a clear interest in language. I was the kind of kid who got home excited to do my spelling homework. I still fondly remember an English workbook I got and did just for fun. When I got into manga, I was fascinated by the translation notes. When I got obsessed with the band tatu in my teens (yes yes I know all the problems I know everything okay I was a teenage lesbian looking for something to make me feel a little less lonely) I started learning Russian. I love language so much.

Other current special interests are the Elder Scrolls games especially Elder Scrolls Online (have been into that for the majority of my twenties), and the tv show Community (only got into it last year but jfc it took over my brain).

[shepfax]

30 days of autism acceptance; day 19

Did your ability to express yourself improve or worsen/deteriorate over time? Or did it stay the same? Is it different depending on how you communicate (spoken language, written language, signed...)?

I think it may have gotten worse, but I'm not sure. I wasn't particularly self aware as a kiddo but I am now, so I'd have to ask my family if I was more expressive as a kid.

at 20 a doctor described me as having flat affect which I had never heard of prior to that comment, but it apparently means speaking in a flat voice and not expressing or emoting in conversation. people often think I'm unaware of positive/negative situations or assume I'm not feeling emotion because I don't outwardly show it, even if it's really strong ones like excitement or despair. that's why I have this little necklace now :)

if you're interested this is a communication necklace from SpaceRobotStudios on Etsy! they have others including a smiley and frowny one, a cat one, a video game health bar, and a couple more. I had the smiley one for a few years but I wore it out by sleeping in it too much lol

[tales-from-nocturnaliss]

30 Days of Autism Acceptance 2023 - Day 13

If you wanna participate, check out @birdofmay's blog or click through this link!

13 April: How important are routines to you? Are your routines more based on time ("I always do this at 6pm!"), on habits ("I always drink from this cup!") or both?

So, with likely being AuDHD, routines can sometimes be more of a bother to me than something to hang onto. I can fairly easily rewire routines if needed. However, my morning routine is absolutely sacred and a vital requirement to starting the day. And it is:

get up whenever my brain pings that the get-up function is available

go down to have a shower (and let a cat or two in if needed, minor deviation since cats are love

have said shower without rushing (the 'without rushing' part having become absolutely vital)

get myself a cup of tea usually, sometimes coffee (I try to have a weekly routine about it because coffee IS bad for me but so delicious)

sit down at my PC and usually start up Discord and other places where I may have recived messages (helps my thinking processes start up (today, yes, this post is part of it))

This is about the only routine I have that I stick to. I have pretty bad time anxieties (alleviated though with ginkgo and ginseng), and usually doing things at a set time actually stresses me out because of the feeling of being entrapped (there might be a trauma there, I'll admit). However, starting dinner at 6pm has become a habit as well, not always strict, but I do like to eat around 7 at the latest because that's best time to digest for me. And I try to have a bedtime routine that gets me to bed at half past midnight, but what exactly I do will vary. I try to keep myself to no-more-screens at 11.30 and spend an hour reading (to rest my eyes really)

... that got longer than needed.

In short: some routines are very important to me, but on the whole I function more on a whim. There seems to always be an element of surprise/change in what I do (for example, despite my morning routine being the same, I will change up tea (got four different green teas!), or conditioner (got three different)). This is exactly why I feel that the ADHD part of my brain was overlooked.