Susan60

chestas, 5 days ago to random

Ah, I remember when I lived in the UK the excitement of hearing the news that a General Election had been called.

To be replaced a few minutes later by the realisation that FPTP is still the voting system.

#ukpol #Democracy

simonvarwell, 14 days ago to random Esperanto

I often dwell on how generations heading into middle age are in weird in-between times: while older generations’ experiences were mostly not digitised and today’s young folk are over-digitised, only some of my generation’s past is digitised. That leaves us in an existence where life is patchily recalled.

I’d never imagined there being equality dimensions to this, however. A fascinating article.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/13/tv-episode-black-britain-gay-history

pathfinder, 7 days ago to Autism

@actuallyautistic

Burnout is a bitch. I think all of us who have experienced it, or are experiencing it, will agree with that. But, how it presents and how long it maintains its hold over us, seems to be as variable as so much else about us.

I can now recognise the many times I have experienced burnout in my life. Each one marked by my constant refrain of, "I'm just tired" and with me doggedly plodding on with my life as best I could. Even now, in the deepest and longest burnout of my life, I am still doing the same.

Of course, I at least know to try and pace myself now. To let the unimportant things slide until their time comes and to spread out what has to be done, to the best of my ability. I know to dedicate time to self-care, to rest and recreation and to acknowledging my needs as an autistic person. This much, realising you are autistic can teach you. It can also help you to spot the signs of burning out sooner and hopefully mitigate its effects that way.

When that's possible, of course. For what caused my current burnout was unfortunately a series of overlapping events that I could not avoid, or do anything about. It was almost as if life chose to keep throwing things at me, each more intense and impossible to avoid, until I broke. But then life can be like that sometimes.

Autistic burnout is, of course, different from normal burnout, in what causes it and how it presents. It is, more often than not, a breakdown of our ability to cope with the demands being placed on us and not with how much we can carry. We are used to carrying insane loads and with having to work so much harder than most other people, just to keep putting one foot in front of the other through life. In fact, I know that I never really rest, not even now. My life is one long and continuous assessment and checking on whether the routines I have in place are being maintained. Whether I have done everything, on what needs to be done and finding new ways to blames myself for why it hasn't been done yet. There is no such thing as not working as far as my brain is concerned. And because I never stop, I don't know how to stop. How to heed the signals of tiredness and exhaustion and how to not knuckle down and continue anyway. It has been the story of my life. In work and everywhere else, always push, push, push.

And perhaps this is why autistic burnout is so common and possibly even inevitable. The sheer effort that life already is. The constant raggedy edge we walk just to get through a day and how in doing this day after day, all we end up doing is teaching ourselves to ignore the warning signs and that our needs are even important. And end up learning instead, that all that really matters is the next plodding step, no matter the load we are already carrying.

#Autism
#ActuallyAutistic

adelinej, 24 days ago to Autism

I have just watched the 1st episode of A Kind of Spark thanks to @PetitPas

It’s a Irish British American Canadian series. In Canada I’m watching it on CBC Gem, in the UK it seems to be on the CBBC channel, for the others countries I don’t know.

I like it because the 3 autistic sisters are played by autistic actors, use of the words autistic, masking, meltdown. etc. Shows sensory overload, etc., ignorance and bias.

To watch it in Canada https://gem.cbc.ca/a-kind-of-spark

#ActuallyAutistic #autism

Susan60, 13 days ago to actuallyautistic

I nearly didn’t listen to this episode, because I’ve never had an eating disorder, but it’s almost more about identity & addiction & autonomy than eating disorders, and is fascinating as a result.
@actuallyautistic #actuallyautistic

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/divergent-conversations/id1662009631?i=1000655158496

Mrfunkedude, 10 days ago to random

I turn 55 (😭) this Monday, meaning that this is now my BIRTHDAY WEEKEND!!!

So I expect all of you to double your efforts on cat and dog pics as well as fart jokes. (some of you have been slacking in that department.)

Let's go!

arcana, 11 days ago to actuallyautistic

#ActuallyAutistic @actuallyautistic

it sucks having an unpopular opinion on the internet because i just assume everyone would hate me if they know

unpopular as in, if there's some kind of controversial topic with two sides, my opinion would draw ire from each of those sides

this is a common thing for me to experience because i'm autistic and i think about things differently than most other people, including other autists (we're obviously not a monolith!)

i think this is a very social-media problem, even on fedi where controversial content isn't pushed by an algorithm, because i think clout-chasing and virtue-signaling still influence overall community attitudes. unfortunately, due to various factors, social-media is one of the few options available for me to socialize at all right now

it gets very, very lonely to see people i might otherwise want to get to know clearly indicating that i need to mask up and pretend to agree, otherwise they'll bite my head off

at first it feels like it's not worth sharing those opinions and risking the drama-- and then it feels like it's not worth getting to know people in the first place

LehtoriTuomo, 11 days ago to actuallyautistic

Yesterday I was wearing sunglasses when I went to the city centre as it was sunny. Oh my, what a difference it made to the sensory overdrive. As I mentioned earlier, I like to watch around but had finally noticed that I keep grounding myself by looking at ground due to all the visual input. Sunglasses took the edge off and it was way easier to look at things.

#ActuallyAutistic @actuallyautistic

timrichards, 11 days ago to melbourne

Went up by tram to Coburg this morning, came back by train. Shiny station.

#Melbourne

timrichards, 13 days ago to restaurants

The thing I like least about the recent wave of inflation is having to now forensically check every cafe/restaurant menu to decide whether I can afford to eat there. Never really had to do that before. But prices are soaring while my freelance income remains much the same.

#Inflation #restaurants #CostOfLiving

DenisCOVIDinfoguy, 4 days ago to auscovid19

🇦🇺 Australia: The number of cases of COVID in residential aged care homes has more than doubled during the course of 6 weeks.

🔹As of 11 April – there were 1,150 cases in 209 facilities

🔹As of 16 May – there were 3,110 cases across 378 sites

@AnikaWells #AgedCare @auscovid19

Source: https://www.australianageingagenda.com.au/clinical/providers-told-to-prepare-for-covid-outbreak/

timrichards, 12 days ago to random

OK I just wrote the first draft of a 1200-word article, and it's 1500 words. Hmm. Time for a bit of slashing.

#AmWriting #AmEditing

aaronesilvers, 2 days ago to actuallyautistic

Thank the Maker for the tools to know when someone’s shit is not my shit and recognizing clear exit signs. #growth @actuallyautistic

perkinsy, 3 days ago to melbourne

This Azalea is looking the best in years. The leaves are a healthy, rich green colour. Previously they had a paler mottled appearance. It is autumn, yet it has a couple of flowers. I am not a fan of the frilly, pink flowers of some varieties but I like these flowers.

This plant was given to me by my mother. I receive her excess and unwanted plants. She enjoys buying plants and I enjoy receiving her rejects - a good arrangement.
#Melbourne #GardeningAU

LehtoriTuomo, 2 days ago to actuallyautistic

In the series "so that's an autism thing too": difficulties in cooking. I have hard time coming up with the shopping list outside of the routine things which I always check against a list on my phone. It's especially difficult to plan what particular dishes should be cooked in the following days.

Once I got hang of cooking -- which happened after I had turned 30, almost 35 -- I learned to like cooking when there's no rush and the recipe is clear. I even can improvise, albeit on quite restricted range. However, when my spouse isn't around, I default to microwaving things or eating frozen pizzas.

#ActuallyAutistic @actuallyautistic

dave, 2 days ago to actuallyautistic

@actuallyautistic

I have to admit: I was worried about my trip to Italy. My wife was as well.

It's the first time we've travelled away from home in years - since before COVID - and also the first time since I discovered that I'm Autistic.

I was worried about what unmasking has done to my ability to cope with change, disruption to routine and the chaos and unpredictability of travel.

I used everything that I've learned about being Autistic in the last 10 months, and I actually overestimated how stressful and taxing it would be. By doing so, I planned for a lot of downtime. Taking time off work - and not trying to balance work with travel - has also helped tremendously. It has let me focus on travel and rest.

My wife has a chronic illness, which means she needs just as much - if not more - downtime than I do, which helps avoid conflict between our energy levels and motivation. The pace of our travels seems to work well for both of us.

We planned for two full days in Venice. We spent all day yesterday walking and exploring, and today we're mostly staying in our hotel and recharging. We've both become better tuned to our needs, and we both need this downtime before we move on to the last leg of our trip in Rome.

I do expect this coming week to be a bit more challenging, as I'm returning to work while we're still in Italy. But the last couple of weeks has given me more confidence in my ability to recognize, plan and advocate for my needs, and I'm confident that will carry over into this week as well.

#ActuallyAutistic

timrichards, 7 days ago to melbourne

I took a photo yesterday of the IOOF Building as I was passing the corner of Elizabeth and Collins Streets. It opened in 1973 as the MLC building, and I believe it was the tallest building in Melbourne back then. I like the modernist curve.

#Melbourne #architecture