tatterdemalionamberite:

a-spoon-is-born:

harpergetsfannish:

a-spoon-is-born:

It’s kind of interesting, how you have to sort of reclaim your thinking processes to effectively solve problems when you’re autistic. Including some of the ones that come with chronic illness.

Example: A medication I’m on right now for an Issue has a dehydrating effect. However, I already drink what most people would consider an unreasonably large amount of water (literally constantly) under normal circumstances. I also have a routine of doing my work on the ol laptop here with my cup of water beside me, which holds like…slightly more than 24 oz?

And  here’s the thing. When I’m in The Zone, I won’t get up. I’ll finish my water, and won’t get more right away (I also won’t get up to go pee or eat or do a bunch of other things for basic fleshbag maintenance).

Neurotypical wisdom would go like: oh, set an alarm, make sure you get up regularly, something something go refill ur cup, bleep blah bloobly. All of it targeted toward making you get up in a timely fashion. That shit never works, and I know already I’m not gonna fucking get up.

Guess who’s sitting here next to two identical full cups of water. And I’ll get a third cup if it seems like that will be beneficial.

But like, here’s the thing: even though that’s what works, people will try to shame this stuff out of you. For no other reason than because it’s the Weird option. It’s not what you’re supposed to do. And it DOESN’T MATTER. like, at all? Who gives a flying fuck at a rolling donut how many cups of water I have at once? No one is here to pointlessly hassle me about it anymore.

But the main problem is it gets in YOUR head not to do the “Weird thing”, no matter what and you’ll end up wasting your whole life trying to do shit in ways you really can’t and that don’t work, and then you feel bad about yourself for not Doing the Thing because you Should. And you can’t do it the way that actually works because it’s Weird.

There are all these little things that effect your behavior much to your detriment and like, unless I personally *think* about it, I’ll still avoid the “Weird” solution for various sad reasons.

TL;DR: Instead of attempting to disrupt my routine by getting up twice as often to refill my water, I bring two waters with me instead.

This post is directly responsible for me filling up my tea mug, my water glass, and grabbing a glass of juice whenever I go to the kitchen from the computer. Less getting up, yes, but drinking more liquids.

oh, wow! you know, i don’t think i noticed this post got notes but if it can help anyone cut through the unnecessary tangle of internalized ableist expectations I’m really glad!

I always bring two large cups of herbal tea to bed. (I’m more likely to finish drinking flavored substances than plain water.)

I find that, when you’re in a place where you can get up periodically, doing so is often a ‘spoon-farming’ exercise action and should be encouraged – but don’t make other healthy behaviors have to be contingent on it when that isn’t encouragement but self-punishment. The line is a fine one. Managing doing things in the ‘correct order’ can be an executive function sink – even when there’s some logical reason why it’s good to do them a certain way, (frex: brushing one’s teeth right before bed) there may be a function cost, so it could ultimately be necessary to do them differently (I have insomnia so if I start going to sleep I shouldn’t stop going to sleep). Try to keep your expectations close to your reality.