I've never really had to deal with people telling me to "smile more", but I don't really smile that much unless I'm laughing or forcing it to be polite. I have trouble controlling my laughter though, especially in public places. If I see something really funny, it's not uncommon for me to laugh for 10-20 minutes about it. And then when I'm finally done I'll just remember what I was laughing at later and start cracking up about it then.
This happened today at Rite-Aid when I was buying some food. I was on some aisle getting Easy Mac (there were a few other people on the aisle too), and all a sudden I remembered this extremely funny Photoshop one of my friends did and I started cracking up about it. I got some pretty weird looks in there, but whatever. I'm sort of glad I laugh so much, it makes me feel good.
Yeah, it seems that once NT people laugh at something once, it somehow isn't funny anymore. I don't get that... If something's funny to me, it stays funny for a long time and I laugh at it for a long time.
blatent emotion by laughing or crying that is it.
Your lucky to be able to do that, I'm incapable of crying when I'm sad, hell I never cry for any reason, my eyes just randomly get watery, its a pain in the ***...
I guess I can still laugh but I'm losing that too...
It happens for me too, funny... We can be almost as alike as the NT's we make fun of so much.
I never really broke down in school... well I did a few times but I forgot about it the next day.
Crying does have a purpose, It helped to blow of steam and get it all out of my system, Imagine being sick and unable to throw up and only have dry heaves, thats what its like imho...
but then again its been so long...
maybe I don't remember...
smiling hurts my face, and I look like I'm on the verge of killing someone.
I often have a very neutral (expressionless) look on my face in public - happens when I'm deep in thought, a bit rattled by surrounding stimuli, or both.
For some reason NTs have a tendency to think neutral = either sad or pissed off. I can't tell you how many times someone has made a remark - everything from "What's wrong?" to something as rude as "God, what's your problem?" !!!!!
If I feel pretty forgiving that day, I either ignore it or respond with something along the lines of "I'm smiling inside." If I feel snarkier I'll say something like "I was fine till you said that." I can remember 2 incidents when someone said something so rude that I just looked at them and said: "It's really not your business to make comments about what sort of look a person can have on their face." Or: "Did it occur to you that it's really rude to make comments about the look on someone else's face?"
This inevitably results in the rude NT staring, spluttering, and turning away.
Very seldom is the neutral look a problem in private with the very few people who do know me well....I think there, or when I'm alone, there's less sensory input to deal with, and then I have a more typical affect. I think.
I laugh at random thoughts in public all the time. Talk to myself, too - though I've learned over time to just silently move my lips when close to other people. (I didn't realize other people can hear you talk to yourself, even if you can't see them, until I was in high school....led to a few unfortunate situations.)
If I'm just sitting there, pondering about nothing or doing whatever and feeling no remarkable emotions, I tend to get "Cheer up!" and "Why are you looking so sullen?" sorts of comments, too... even if I'm just daydreaming about ice-cream or something. O.o
I know as a fact I have poor eye-contact. I also know that whenever I think intensely, my face takes on a very serious look, which my Mother says resembles, or is, the 'unfriendly look' in Neurotypical body language. My Father (who is not as Autistic as I and also has ADD) gets as very similar look on his face when he is thinking.
Will
I think I'm neutral because I rarely feel any specific emotion.
Whoa. Amazing realization. My first three years of school photos all show a NEUTRAL facial expression. There is then a super obvious change with big social smiles in every year after that. Then I suddenly remembered going through a period where I was exhorted to "Smile!" It did work wonders, though it also brought risks.
They call it a "vacant look." I call it "lost in thought," a very nice place to visit.
Yes, indeed, if something if REALLY funny, it stays funny. I will laugh out loud in public whenever I think of something like that. I don't drive, and I don't like to take the bus (too crowded (i.e. one or more other people!)) so I am out walking around quite a bit, and it is as normal as anything for me to just be lost in thought and having a great time, alone, in motion.
I didn't smile until I was five years old. My parents took lots of pictures- I can look back and see it. It just didn't come naturally. I don't know why.
I used to use facial expressions(or I think I did...like bob bobson, I don't seem to like...smile "hard enough" I guess. I used to think I was frowning, but apparently it looks like my eyebrows are just slightly lowered...) but then I read some Robert Jordan books, and decided that they weren't cool, and that I didn't want people to know how I felt, so I just started to hide my emotions. I have the basic emotions, but that's about it. Angry, happy(either a slight curve of the lips, or a face splitter), sad( I think i still have this one...sometimes I try to feel sad at night just to see if I still can cry. So far no luck =_^) and then blank, which I wear the most. This usually embodies all of my emotions though, and only do the others take over in extreme circumstances. Puzzlement also earns a place. I blushed the other day too!
Then Japan has become my favorite country and culture.