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mentallyskilled
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15 May 2012, 9:00 pm

a lot of times i feel like my bodys on auto pilot while im doing a lot of thinga. by auto pilot i mean my body is doin whatever it may be but my minds always somewhere else. i wont even see what imm doing cause i wont really use my eyes even tho theres openand work just fine. idk how to explain this better. im hoping someone can say they maybe do this too? i still dont know if im some kinda autistic so idk if this is an autistic thing or what



Atomsk
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15 May 2012, 9:03 pm

I'm autistic - professionally diagnosed. I have the exact same thing you're describing happen to me. What really struck me was the bit about your eyes being open, and working just fine, but pretty much not noticing any of the visual data coming in - I get that exact thing very often.



ThinkTrees
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15 May 2012, 9:43 pm

Me too.


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Tyazii
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15 May 2012, 10:22 pm

I often perform many trivial tasks without realizing it, such as placing things down when I walk in the door. I'm often forgetting where I put things. One time, when on a walk, I crossed three highways. I looked back and couldn't remember crossing them. I think this is because, when I'm deep in thought (which is usually either analyzing past situations with other people, theorizing, or sometimes, writing a short novel in my head), I tend to block out all input. When I was younger, I had my ears tested, as the teacher screamed at me ten times before I turned around. I told her that I couldn't hear her. I realize now that I could, the input was just being blocked out because I was thinking.



Titangeek
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15 May 2012, 11:04 pm

That is me when I am stressed, or at work.


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FishStickNick
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15 May 2012, 11:19 pm

mentallyskilled wrote:
a lot of times i feel like my bodys on auto pilot while im doing a lot of thinga. by auto pilot i mean my body is doin whatever it may be but my minds always somewhere else. i wont even see what imm doing cause i wont really use my eyes even tho theres openand work just fine. idk how to explain this better. im hoping someone can say they maybe do this too? i still dont know if im some kinda autistic so idk if this is an autistic thing or what

Yep. Sometimes I get so caught up in my thoughts that, while I am looking at stuff, I don't see it, if that makes any sense.



Dovi
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15 May 2012, 11:59 pm

This happens to me too, all the time, especially if I am doing something that I find boring. It used to happen a LOT when I was driving but it was always really scary to come back and realize I was 30 minutes away from where I started and didn't remember getting there, OR changing lanes on the interstate. Thankfully that doesn't happen as often anymore, I can seem to keep my thoughts a little more reigned in when driving now.

I talked to my friend who is dx'ed with ADD about this too and she said the same thing happened to her.



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16 May 2012, 12:01 am

I detail cars for a living and I'm lucky in that they let me listen to my Ipod while I work.
I listen to audiobooks while working and even though I'm working on the car, my mind is totally focused on the story. In my mind I'm actually watching a movie of the audiobook. I can still focus enough on my work to do a good job, but I'm mostly in my own world.
The day goes by soooooo fast this way :D


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Atomsk
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16 May 2012, 12:08 am

jetbuilder wrote:
I detail cars for a living and I'm lucky in that they let me listen to my Ipod while I work.
I listen to audiobooks while working and even though I'm working on the car, my mind is totally focused on the story. In my mind I'm actually watching a movie of the audiobook. I can still focus enough on my work to do a good job, but I'm mostly in my own world.
The day goes by soooooo fast this way :D


Same thing happens to me with audiobooks.



raylit20
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16 May 2012, 1:01 am

Yup, I'm on autopilot most of the day while I am engrossed in thought. Occasionally I am brought back to reality, though it's rarely an enjoyable experience. I much prefer the company of my thoughts.


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HK416N
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16 May 2012, 1:45 am

yea i got autopilot.. not always good tho.. I walk into stuff.. no biggie.. just bruises
sometime i walk and feels like moment later I am way different locaion... how did i get here.. dunno..



Atomsk
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16 May 2012, 1:59 am

Ooh, I remember one autopilot moment in specific.

This was at a band practice - one moment I'm talking with our keyboardist and our sax player, then I start walking over by my amp, only to realize I had a sheet of paper in my hand (it was a tentative set list for our next gig), and I had no memory at all of it being handed to me. Just exclaimed "how the @#$% did this get here?" Turns out it had been early on in that conversation.

I think I was focusing so hard on the conversation I didn't realize I had the thing handed to me, rather than it being autopilot. I suppose it could be me autopiloting musical conversation (music is a heavy obsession/special interest of mine, as you've probably guessed), or rather, at the least, an example of autistic intense focus on something causing me to not notice a major, involved physical event like being handed a piece of paper and accepting it.

I think "autopilot" is just another example of autistic intense focus.



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16 May 2012, 2:05 am

Autopilot is good to me. Make hammocks for a living. My mind hasn't been required for this activity for years. Music on, notepad at my side, prepping tonight's poem, all the while hammocks get made. Other people chitchatting sounds like so many crickets to me. No problem. Focus is a good fit for me.


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HK416N
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16 May 2012, 2:22 am

hehe atomsk.. weird when that happens.. once i did speech on autopilot.. they said i agreed to different pickup spot and describe all that happens.. and i was just uuuhh what??
not like if u forget something.. that is diffrnent.. was like 10 min of do-speak-move I was part of and uhh no idea..
they tell me exact what I said then.. nope.. was that me?? no idea..
not handy.. got me waiting for 2 hrs at wrong spot



Atomsk
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16 May 2012, 2:34 am

vanhalenkurtz wrote:
Autopilot is good to me. Make hammocks for a living. My mind hasn't been required for this activity for years. Music on, notepad at my side, prepping tonight's poem, all the while hammocks get made. Other people chitchatting sounds like so many crickets to me. No problem. Focus is a good fit for me.


The same thing happens with people talking to me when I focus on something - whether they are groups talking or individuals. I also can ignore the noises of a classroom of kids making noise, -repetitive- loud cries, etc. I sometimes can tune much of these things out. I think it's because hearing is my favorite and probably most highly developed sense. I'm a professional musician - I even teach bass and guitar lessons. I also have absolute pitch - the ability to know what a note or chord is without any external reference. I do get sensory overloads from hearing, but it just depends on the situation and the day. If music is involved (but only if I am playing and involved in being a major source of the loudness) I can tolerate very loud volumes (I still almost always wear earplugs).

I think my involvement in music probably gives me the ability to tune out auditory annoyances. Certain sounds will still drive me crazy though, like the sounds of people chewing or eating, sounds of breathing.

The hum of electric lights doesn't bother me simply because I always harmonize to it with humming. They can even stimulate musical ideas, lol.

I also like doing manual tasks, like assembling certain things over and over, sanding, stuffing hundreds of letters into envelopes, etc. and can tune out distractions/noise going on easily while focusing on them.



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16 May 2012, 2:51 am

I walk around all the time with my eyes open but not seeing anything. I am completely inside my own mind, and nothing bad has evar happened to me during these walks, because my brain is still seeing the things that I might walk into and trip over, so I guess that I move around them, and my brain always wakes me up before the intersection.