Aspies For Freedom

Full Version: Milestones, and possible retirement
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Meh Adam West never stopped being Batman when he got old ;p why should you? Smile
I don't think you should leave and I like reading what you have to say.

Batman55 Wrote:
About my attention-seeking:

1) It's in my personality.  I cannot attract attention from people in real life as much as I would like because of a social limitation--I am "waved off" a lot because people don't take my comments seriously--and I don't think I need to say much more than that.

2) A lot of Aspies have fulfillment from the knowledge and confidence they get from gifted intelligence, and/or strong skills in one or more areas.  That's all the attention most Aspies need, just that right there.  But if you had to be in my shoes--no abilities, basically--how else would you verify your existence?

You can verify your existence by paying attention to your breathing.
I wonder if you might have meant "validate", but maybe not.
I think it's part of the human condition to have issues around self-worth.  And the more that "worth" is couched in terms of producing something that others find valuable, the more problems with self-worth might occur for someone who doesn't produce those things.  

It's pretty clear from your posts on AFF that you have low self-esteem. What irritates me is your repeated reminders that what someone else might report about his or her experience doesn't apply to you.  It's freaking NOT ALL ABOUT YOU!!!!!  When you do this drawing of attention to yourself, it means that other people sometimes feel compelled to step in and try to validate you, which gets you the attention you might want.  But it can also have the effect of inhibiting other people from freely expressing what they think, feel, and experience.  And this bothers me.


3) If I say I have a limitation, or a deficit--even excessively--it's because I really have the limitation or deficit or whatever it is.  I have never told a lie about these things, why would I.

Why do you feel compelled to continually remind us of your limitations and deficits?

So yeah, I really am plagued with problems associated with autism, I would consider myself disabled; if you folks aren't disabled by your AS or whatever, good for you.  So don't assume I can use advice that works for you and criticize me when I say I can't/don't want to use it.

We're pretty strongly socialized to develop skills and make contributions.  "Earn our keep" as it were.  There could be a  biological basis for this--it would not surprise me if there were.  So, this imperative makes it difficult for people who for some reason or another can't earn their keep due to illness or inability or other circumstances.

Or even if one is living an apparently useful life, one doesn't escape self-esteem issues.  I think that most people feel as if they're not measuring up in some domain or another.  Maybe they're okay at work but bad at relationships or the other way around or they've failed at something they wanted and tried or... or... or...

I think that much is NOT under personal control.  I often find this difficult to deal with.
I chose the latter too, I don't care.

Sides I can think of a few quirky people real and fictional who are great =p
Batman, if you want to use AFF as a focus for writing, fine.
How about exploring in depth a theme or two that might be of genuine interest to yourself and to some other people here.  (Yes, I acknowledge that this is advice--take or leave.)

And piece of advice number 2--think hard before you Post Reply on one of your 'Poor pitiful me, I have no marketable talent, I have no executive function, I'm not good at math, I'm an aspie but don't do/have X, you're judging me, you don't understand me, you're not validating me, you don't like me, you're telling me how I should be, I'm entitled to better treatment than this, I can't read long posts, etc' knee-jerk responses to what someone says that most likely has absolutely NOTHING to do with you.

It's wearying and.....predictably boring.
And yes, this is a judgment on my part.
Get over yourself, already, eh?
See, the way I see it is: a lot of aspies can be, and are, arseholes...i'm one of them.

BUT, the problem is people see one Aspie being a dick and they tar us with the same brush.
This is gonna sound sooooo nerdy but..

"Don't try to be a great man, just try to be a man"  - Warp Drive chap from Trek Tongue
Going back to part of your original post for this thread

Batman55 Wrote:
I just realized that I have hit 4,000 posts.

I wonder if perhaps it is time for me to retire--hang up the cape and cowl for good--as I may now be outstaying my welcome.

..........

Judging from responses from some members, I am also an irritant to many of you.  I've had the occasional "you've been on AFF for a while but you're not making any progress in your life, and you still haven't got the official DX, so why not just forget about it" thing, and that kinda bugs me.

So, have I outstayed my welcome?  Is it time for me to leave AFF?


Nobody is saying that you should leave AFF.  

Some people question what you really want from people.  You seem to not want advice and you are unhappy or angry when it appears as if people don't believe you regarding the impairments you have.  So...maybe you just want more understanding.

The reality is that you'll get understanding from some people some of the time.  Only you can decide whether what you get here is enough.

Another reality is that many people really do NOT understand you.  Nobody here knows your true situation--unless we lived in your house with you, we cannot know.  And even if we did, we might still not know.  So, you get all sorts of advice and pep-talks and admonishments from people here who are extrapolating from their own experience.  That's human nature at work.  Take what's useful and discard the rest.

When people do give you the gift of their attention, it's worth considering an appreciative response, even if the contents of the gift are not pleasing to you.

Everyone's journey in life is unique.  
You are not being invalidated just because someone else has talents that you lack.
That person has struggles also.  Rare is the individual who has no secret sorrows.

Marcia Wrote:
Mmm...post count - see what you mean...ooops!

Did I ever mention that procrastination was one of my hobbies? Wink


And now it isn't...

btw, there's a thread somewhere on the topic of procrastination.

The doctor'll just tell him he's making it up anyway, words to that effect.

That's probably why he's scared, Ethel.
Ethel--I think that Batman IS in pain.
And I'm sorry for your sake that you got sucked into a painful exercise of futility.
I'd recommend avoiding the PMs with Batman, that's for sure.

I just found out about a week ago that he'd PM'd someone I know personally and had encouraged to come to this site.  Basically, Batman gave her the message that because she is NT (with an aspie boyfriend), she doesn't belong here.  Like....where do you get off with that, Batman?  (The poster was generic_humanoid, fwiw, and while she was perfectly capable of ignoring you, your PM to her wasn't what you'd call welcoming.)  I hope that some day you'll be able to get over yourself, Batman.  I'm glad that you're finding some help offline.

Regarding Ethel's posts, my opinion is that it makes sense to offer help when that seems like the right thing to do.  One might get something back in return, and one might not.  However, having said this, I can see how easy it might be to become sucked in.
But when you have super moderator under your name .... your opinion carries more weight.
It alters the dynamics of power.

None of us are perfect. Don't expect perfection from anyone - then you won't be disappointed - aim for tolerance of difference.

EvilZakkie Wrote:

Lucie1 Wrote:
But when you have super moderator under your name .... your opinion carries more weight.
It alters the dynamics of power.

None of us are perfect. Don't expect perfection from anyone - then you won't be disappointed - aim for tolerance of difference.


The two statements I made were advising Ethel that it was easy to avoid angst, and stating that it's not a good idea to reward attention-seeking behavior. Feel free to try to point out how this means I "expected perfection", or was "intolerant of difference".

As to the first bit, the percieved weight of my opinions is not a reason not to state my opinion. I choose not to be a robot.



Ooops - sorry zakkie - my last two statements weren't directed at you at all ---- totally unrelate to you or anything you said.

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