A special thank you for the Transcriptions go out to Patreon subscriber, Kara – thanks Kara! You are amazing!!!

Hey everyone. I hope you are all having a wonderful week so far. 

So, for this week’s video, I wanted to talk a little bit about routines, or you know they say, “rituals and routines.”  Often, medical professionals and companies will pathologize the autistic “attachment to routine.” And that can be eating the same foods every day for every meal, or that can be doing your morning routine in the same order every day or just, you know whenever, just having a very specific way of doing things.

When I would go to the office, I used to have a very specific way I would have to set everything on my desk before I started work because it just didn’t feel right until it was set up.  So, I just wanted to share a little bit about my perspective on this because it hurts a little bit that I hear this pathologized so much.  Because for me, I have sometimes, well no, not sometimes, I have issues with my working memory (sometimes called executive functioning). It’s like, for example, when I’m shampooing and conditioning my hair in the shower, I do little visual things to help me know what step I’m on because I don’t remember.  Did I shampoo already twice?  Did I condition?  So, I’ll move the bottle around in the shower as I do each step, so that I know what step that I’m on.  But then, I always do that; it’s like a routine.  My routine in the morning that helps me stay organized is that I tend to kind of get ready and do everything in the same order, so I don’t forget a step.  I have all my stuff out visually, and I put it away as I finish with it.  It helps me know what step I’m on.  But really, just doing the things in the same order everyday helps me just to be more organized. 

I always try to find the most efficient way to do something and then that becomes my routine, because I’m like “Oh, this is the best way, so I’ll just do it this way every time.”  It’s the same thing with going to work.  Every now and then I’ll try to make myself mix it up and go a different route, but really (ooh, I’m just like, feeling uncomfortable here just thinking about it).  I do it every day, every now and then, because I know it’s good for me, but I like to just drive the same route to work every day because I know how to get there.  It’s just so familiar to me; I can just be relaxed and drive, and it’s not stressful.  It’s just helping to minimize chaos in my life by sticking to a routine. 

Other tendencies, like sometimes when I get really into one food and I will eat that food every meal, every day, for a long time; that’s not so good.  I understand nutrition, but sometimes just having that one meal that you can count on and is comforting, and you know is going to taste good when you have sensory issues.  Sometimes things that taste good one day might be wrong in your mouth the next day; if there is something you know is a good go-to food that you can always count on even when your sensory issues are aggravating you and your taste buds and your … it’s just so nice to have the food that you know will never let you down.

So anyway, those are just a few thoughts and just personal perspectives on “ritual” they say, “rituals and routines” and how I use that to stay organized, and like I said earlier, to just really minimize chaos in my day.  It just helps me have a calmer day.

So anyway, let me know.  Do you have certain routines that you use to help keep yourself organized, or do you use routines?  Let me know in the comments.  I’m always interested in hearing your feedback.  I put out new videos every Wednesday, so be sure to subscribe and turn on notifications so you don’t miss it.  I will talk to you all next week.  Bye!

 

 

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