Comments on Existence is Wonderful: On The Feeding of Quirky Mammals, Part 3

Your post sounded so familiar! Thank you for writi...

2009-07-24T19:35:16.256-07:00

Your post sounded so familiar! Thank you for writing.

Thanks for the advice, Anne!

2009-07-04T10:12:14.591-07:00

Thanks for the advice, Anne!

And one more thing along similar lines...I think s...

2009-07-03T17:15:11.293-07:00

And one more thing along similar lines...I think some of us actually can tend to have "too much" self-discipline or at least something that amounts to it -- e.g., following a really messed up start to college (I attended a particular junior college at first that was not very good for me), I just sort of decided that I was "going to succeed [in getting my degree], no matter what" and devoted ALL my energy to that task for the most part until I actually did.

And...while I was successful in this goal, it did not come without a lot of things like, say, becoming quite dehydrated, eating very poorly, injuring myself inadvertently by bicycling with a too-heavy backpack on, and ending up sometimes just having what seemed to be "random" meltdowns that involved running out of classrooms, crying, loss of coherent speech, etc. In other words, during that period, my problem was not a lack of willpower, it was more related to a lack of knowing how to manage my time, take breaks, and communicate or even acknowledge certain needs, etc. I also developed somewhere along the way a pretty unhealthy attitude that "you don't know if you're trying hard enough unless it HURTS" -- which meant that I was really operating a lot of the time at a level that was NOT sustainable, because the only indication I ever had that told me I was "doing enough" was that sense that I was somewhere on the edge of some kind of collapse. Learning to NOT operate that way is an ongoing exercise even to this day for someone who wants both to maintain high standards and not drive themselves into unhealthiness in the process!

Oh and also, I've definitely been called "...

2009-07-03T16:51:10.847-07:00

Oh and also, I've definitely been called "lazy" on many occasions.

And while like most humans I am perfectly capable of laziness, it is a very different feeling to have an executive functioning problem with something and to just be avoiding a task because it's boring or unpleasant or you'd rather be doing something else.

E.g., the fact that my desk was a total mess in elementary school was due to executive functioning problems and difficulties with multi-tasking (I didn't know how to "split" my attention between schoolwork and maintaining a neat desk, nor did I understand what steps were involved in keeping a desk neat). However, the fact that sometimes I would come home and run down to the basement and play Space Quest for as long as I could get away with it (rather than doing my homework!) was plain old laziness coupled with the fact that I found video games a lot more enticing than homework. :P

One of the biggest problems I see in how people on the spectrum tend to be taught is that often it is not recognized that we may need help with BOTH executive functioning and with learning self-discipline. When I was growing up, while I did get some educational/resource supports ever so often, for the most part I remember being treated as if I "could do [x] if I really wanted to" even if I had no idea HOW, and consequently I was frustrated a lot. :/

Taylor: Actually I did allude to the situat...

2009-07-03T16:44:39.601-07:00

Taylor: Actually I did allude to the situation you are describing in this post, when I wrote:

Sometimes a particular food (or food-like substance, as certain highly processed items might more properly be called) can be a kind of awesome sensory delight unto itself, leading to your consuming it in quantity even if you aren't very hungry. Other times, it could just be that once you start eating something, you just don't stop until whatever you can see is gone.

That kind of thing is less common for me, but I have experienced it with certain foods.

And I think the key to dealing with that kind of thing is in controlling portions. That is, you need to somehow find out how much of a given thing is actually healthy to eat (many people may need help with this; you may want to consult a non-quacky nutritionist or doctor). And then, once you know that, only purchase, prepare, or take on your plate a specific amount of that thing (or of food in general).

E.g., once you know about how much food you probably ought to be eating, you can get a plate or bowl of a certain size, and just put however much food on that dish it takes to fill it up. That way you are getting consistent amounts of stuff.

And also like I said in my entry, if you tend to be inertial to begin with, you can use this to help with portion control -- e.g., after taking a healthy helping of food (and putting it on your Plate of Pre-Determined Portion Size), quickly go and put the leftovers or remaining portion away, in the cabinet or fridge, in a sealed container. That way it will put an obstacle between you and the rest of the food that might be just annoying enough to compel you not to bother trying to get more. :P

(And of course the goal here is NOT to starve or even to lose weight -- the goal is to make it so you aren't consuming either so much food you get indigestion or so much of one thing that you end up with nutritional imbalances, as a person would if they tried to live solely on plain pasta, etc.)

I have the opposite problem when it comes to food,...

2009-07-02T21:06:24.020-07:00

I have the opposite problem when it comes to food, I can eat and eat and eat without realizing my body is saying "ENOUGH". There is probably some stim-type thing involved.

The "willpower" thing has been my Achilles' heel my whole life. Before my Asperger's was diagnised when i was 15 (in 2001) my executive dysfunction issues got me called lazy constantly

I am enjoying this series. There are helpful tips ...

2009-07-01T17:30:32.898-07:00

I am enjoying this series. There are helpful tips too so that's good.

oh, no sweat... i can't help it, really. i spo...

2009-07-01T16:09:33.716-07:00

oh, no sweat... i can't help it, really. i spout my fair share of bull (haphazardly) on every blog i read... from here to the friedmanite economics and bodybuilding blogs... a bit of pink/white noise is good sometimes! ask a "bioinformaticist" ;-)

Oh and...I know transitions are inevitable, etc., ...

2009-06-30T22:44:14.828-07:00

Oh and...I know transitions are inevitable, etc., and some of them are good and even enjoyable, etc., but I do not mean here to get into the deep deconstructive semantics of words like that. I do not desire to stop time or stay still forever...it is more a matter of managing transitions, on a concrete level (where I operate much of the time), rather than some far-off abstract one. And that is all I am going to say along these lines here because I am out of my depth already.

morsincerta blink No need for apologies, ...

2009-06-30T22:39:36.822-07:00

morsincerta *blink* No need for apologies, I would just advise you not to expect meaningful responses from me to comments like this. I've been writing this series from a practical standpoint.

there are several themes in your (last?) installme...

2009-06-30T21:45:19.881-07:00

there are several themes in your (last?) installment of the "quirky mammal" series that i think merit a blog entry of their own -maybe they've had it.

i should begin by saying that the question of sustainability titillated me quite a bit. it convincingly reveals why good health and happiness remain utopian, despite the great array of implements at our disposal to procure and realize them.

in a world where sufficient answers have been compiled to allow the "privileged" both a clear recipe for good health and a millenarian philosophy of happiness (which is allegedly very applicable), remains a factor that is constantly changeable and reactive. i'm speaking, of course, of human forgetfulness -the psychological emissary of entropy, making the brain ebb back to an emotional status quo.

how to keep our great epiphanies in the attentional spotlight? or, more mundanely: how to stick with my plan to improve my cardiovascular health?

many people will vex us with words like "discipline" and "willpower"... some will obfuscate the issue by pointing to some epistemic argument which champions cynicism for its own sake and allegedly overturns Epicurean wisdom; saying that the silver lining is actually in our ability to censor working memory and to keep complex ideas stored away. others will say that the Buddhist adages and Hindi mantras, even the straightforward tips from a positive psychologist, seem to posses the key to contentedness only because they ring surprising to our minds, but when the novelty effect subsides, so does the effectiveness of their wisdom.

i say we're merely bad strategists when it comes to deciding how to use a technical or philosophical asset to sustain a trend of progress in our lives.

another interesting theme is the one about "transitions". for what can your quirky human do in a life so ridiculously stratified -where we must jump from one state of mind to another, from one identity to another, from one absorbing cognitive task to another-?

anyway--- thank you, Anne, for a gripping post. and sorry about my tangential rants.

My sleep habits are probably fairly normal - since...

2009-06-30T12:10:56.425-07:00

My sleep habits are probably fairly normal - since I live with 1 other person I generally just go to bed when he does. My exercise habits, unfortunately, are awful - Definitely an area I need to work on. I am pretty small/skinny but I know exercise is important for cardiovascular health regardless.

Now you've gotten me curious about your sleep ...

2009-06-30T10:43:04.892-07:00

Now you've gotten me curious about your sleep and exercise habits …

Comments on Existence is Wonderful: On The Feeding of Quirky Mammals, Part 3

Your post sounded so familiar! Thank you for writi...

Thanks for the advice, Anne!

And one more thing along similar lines...I think s...

Oh and also, I've definitely been called "...

Taylor: Actually I did allude to the situat...

I have the opposite problem when it comes to food,...

I am enjoying this series. There are helpful tips ...

oh, no sweat... i can't help it, really. i spo...

Oh and...I know transitions are inevitable, etc., ...

morsincerta *blink* No need for apologies, ...

there are several themes in your (last?) installme...

My sleep habits are probably fairly normal - since...

Now you've gotten me curious about your sleep ...

morsincerta blink No need for apologies, ...