You ever feel this way?

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You ever get the feeling that things don't work the same way for you as they do for others? Like, people will tell you how to do something, you'll follow their instructions step by step, and it still won't work? Then they show you how to do it, and make it look like the simplest thing in the world while making you look like an idiot at the same time? And then you still can't do it afterwards? I get this feeling a lot, and I know the world doesn't operate on different rules that only apply to me but sometimes it's hard to keep telling myself that. Am I the only one?

Nope.

That's why I do things my way.

no. you're not the only one.

Looking at maths problems beyond your level can cause that.

You're not the only one. It happens to me a fair bit, and in particular I remember it happening to me a lot in high school math class. I'd often end up inventing my own roundabout methods of solving problems, since I couldn't figure out the normal methods being taught.

In my case, I feel it's not so much due to the rules being different for me, as it is due to the way the instructions themselves are given. Instructions often leave out a number of important details that the person writing the instructions assumes the person reading them will know off the bat. It pisses me off when instructions are written like this, but admittedly I'm prone to doing it myself, since I'll sometimes assume that the person reading will know things that seem immediately obvious to me, but in actuality aren't immediately obvious to them. I prefer having comprehensive, but clear instructions for things that cover a wide range of situations, but instructions like these are rare since the people writing instructions in the first place often make assumptions and leave out what they believe are "unnecessary" details for the purposes of conciseness and brevity.

The actual "rules" may be different in certain situations, but ultimately, I think most of this boils down to differences in communication. I know the whole "us vs. them" aspie vs. NT mentality has been unpopular here as of late, but I think it very much applies here. NTs tend to be highly social creatures, more prone to groupthink, and are better able to see things the same way as one another. Instructions written by NTs for NTs tend to be concise and contain only what they consider "important" information. NTs reading these instructions will (presumably) understand them and know what to do with them. With aspies, we tend to be a LOT more individualistic, and see things in different ways from one another. Instructions I write, if I write them with my assumptions in mind, will often only work well for me, and not anyone else. Likewise, instructions written with "NT" assumptions in mind will often baffle me, and instructions written by aspies with their assumptions in mind will often baffle me too.

In a nutshell, it's like we all operate on different communication wavelengths. With NTs, there's some differences, but generally people can "get" one another. With aspies, the wavelengths differ more, and reception can be sporadic, so we have to make do with what we're lucky enough to catch.

Yes, this happens to me a lot. Things that are very obvious to most people I have a hard time figuring out.