Aspies For Freedom

I have worked from home for a year and a half for a browser based game. First it was volunteer and then an honararium and in April they brought me to Germany to discuss my chunk of the revenue. I nearly lost it all that month because of a combination of too much change and a horrible incident with the German police.

Long term to keep the work I have going steadily in a nice direction I need to change my habits more than a little. I somehow have to become used to going out with humans sometimes and things like that. For the interim after what happened with the police and my reaction to it my company just wants me home in Canada again but in the longer run I have to come back. (Toll the bells of dread)

I have other health issues so the incident with the police will have lasting impact to my liver and joints but somehow I worry less about that than making my habits less ingrained.

The company is itself terrific. There was a huge issue with the most NT person there that caused some choas but for the most part 99 percent of them are spectrum friendly to spectrum. Was a culture shock but a good one.

So how do I go from being myself. A person who goes out once a week to the same band she has played in for 20 years. Who since getting on the handydart also goes out every two weeks to the library and that's about it. To someone who can actually go out for dinner and things without it being a major deal. I did fine with them in the short run in Germany but I didn't sleep because of the novelty.

OK, I am an NT (supposedly) person married to an Aspie man, who was a stay at home Dad for 3.5 years.  This was way before we knew he was Aspie, but we did know that once he got comfortable at home, getting him back out of the house was nearly impossible!  

Once he got his new job, and our daughter went off to day care, he had a lot of adjusting to do.  It took some time, and the first few months were very rough.  

It sounds like your employer is relatively understanding, and that is great.  What I think worked for my husband was:

1)  Get into a new routine.  Do not make too much room for surprises or unexpected meetings.  Once you get into a routine that you are comfortable with, you can deviate when needed.

2)  Make sure you have a lot of down time.  Whatever you use to "escape" from stress.  For my husband, he is a gamer, and that is how he de-stresses.

3)  Realize that you will have better and worse days.  I think that is not an AS thing but a HUMAN thing.  However, I think that some AS people may give themselves a harder time about it than NT people.  

I wish you the best!