Your Envirmant Does Not Govern Your Life; Your Reponse To It Does

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As the quote above states, I can change the environment around me, but I can change how affects me by how I respond it. I can despair for what the situation is like, or I can try and do something about it. I can try and fight against the environment around me, or I can adjust myself and my to it. Either way, the atmosphere its self is not what governs my life and holds me down or helps with my success, but I how I react/respond to it affect my success or failure in life.

Please share thoughts; all thoughts & viewpoints are welcomed and wanted!

 

 

Autism Is Not A Hindrance​, It Is Just Plain Awkward

This response to the one-word prompt “Awkward” by “The Daily Post.”

For those who have to live with “Autism, can be and often is, no matter how one deals with it and strange. As I have mentioned previously on this blog, I have been diagnosed with “High Functioning Autism.” Although, I suspect that when I was growing up (I am 31) it was always that spectrum level.

I perhaps had a slightly lower function spectrum of , for growing up was definitely always socially awkward for me; I was still aware of my differences compared to others (I was never officially diagnosed, only thought to have some form of Autism as a kid). Now that I know that “my difference” was and is because of my autism, it has made going about my life so much better and more comfortable. My autism (my difference) is not nor has ever been a handicap or , but is very much a part of me and a good/useful part.

Because of my autism, I see things and think of things differently than most people. That is a gift, to be able to view the world through different lenses than most would; it opens a whole lot of new opportunities. Yet, autism doesn’t come without its challenges, which bottom line can be summed up in just plain awkwardness.

It is awkward to be in social situations and not know how to respond and act (responding one way and everyone looking at you like you have lost your mind). It is awkward to have a deep conversation on a particular subject while your mind keeps going a mile a minute thinking up all the connecting topics and/or ideas related to such.

From what I have come to understand when it comes to social situations and behavior most people do not have to put too much “active thought” into it. That is not so with me. I have to constantly be in “active thought mode” to govern my thoughts and behavior; rarely if ever being on “auto-pilot” (my subconscious). So yes, while having Autism is not a hindrance, it is very much an awkward experience!

What are your thoughts on this subject? Please do share them; they are very much wanted.

Only Games Have Restarts; Not Real Life, Or Does It?

This is a response to the one-word prompt “Restart” by “The Daily Post.”

For all those who grew up playing video/computer (who hasn’t in the United States) still plays the occasional game here or there, the “save spot” and “restart” features of those games most likely became an important aspect of use when playing. The ability to save one’s progress and then come back later and pick up where left off. Or the ability to restart the game when you made too many mistakes to recover from and wish for a second, third, fourth, fifth chance, etc.. at the game. These features of the video/computer game are nice to have, but I think can be hard to remember sometimes that those futures are in games and .

I think we tend to sometimes wish we had the “save&restart” feature in real life that we have in our favorite video/computer game/s; (I know I do sometimes).  In fact, what is the appeal to such games at heart other than as a means to escape at least for a little while our real-life issues? Yes, we play them for the adventure, action, mystique, intrigue, and so forth; but only because that is what a lot of us really want out of our mundane lives.

With all the uncertainty in our lives from jobs, future career, the economy, politics, news, and so forth; it is not only easy to be drawn into the fantasy of the “gaming world,” to “lose oneself,” but also to wish what we get in those games we could get from our real lives. In some ways, the very act of playing video/computer games is a “save/pause/restart” on “real life” because when we are playing our games we are not focusing on nor worrying about what is going on in our lives in the real world.

There is some good from this aspect of playing computer games, as a distraction from real life, real-world issues; in that it can help elevate some of the stress and lets us relax and “recharge” ourselves. The danger is in the fact that we can become too “glued” to our computer games and lose face with reality as well as what is more important (life or game life). While there is no actual real “save/restart” in real life like in the games we play; when we lose ourselves in them, the games themselves sure can feel as such for a time.

A good video/computer game is always fun to enjoy and perhaps lose one’s self in for a time, but not at the expense of our “real” lives. We need to make sure that as we enjoy those games that they do not hold us back nor confuse our two worlds.

What are your thoughts and viewpoints on this subject? Please do share them, all are welcome and wanted here.