Day Structure

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In alot of documentaries about Aspies there are people who need to eat the same everyday, or get up at the exact same time or stuff like that. I'm a little different. I eat something different everyday and get up whenever I feel like it. But whenever somebody else is taking me somewhere - like shopping - I have to ask them what exactly we will do in which order and how long it'll take. After every station (every shop...) I'll ask "so where do we go now?" even if the other person has already told me a few times. I guess that's pretty annoying but I can't help it. And if the person suddenly decides to go somewhere else than planned or just had something planned already and didn't tell me, I get really upset. I want to have an exact schedule of what we're going to do and how long it'll take.

How about you?

I'm exactly the same as what you just described. I always ask those questions too. Until I was about 17 or 18 I used to break down if, for example, we went to a supermarket on the way home without warning and spent a considerable amount of time there. I seem to have got the breaking down part until control now and I don't cry about it anymore. Nowadays I would just feel the strain and get into a depressive mood.

My life is not set to a rigid schedule. I have non 24 hour circadian rhythm disorder, so I do not wake at the same time everyday. My daily food intake also varies, even though it is fairly restricted. Things like that don't really bother me, except my wake up routine. It follows the same pattern, daily. I have to do this or else I feel off for the rest of the day.

Outings have to be planned at least 24 hours in advance or else I won't go. I need to know what to expect. If there is an abrupt change I try to tolerate it as best as I can.

I have a lot of trouble with changes in schedule. For instance, just today I was very upset because we did not go home from vacation today. It was supposed to rain today and I planned on going home but I was very upset when I heard that we where staying another day. My parents really don't understand it and get very angry with me; they believe that I am trying to manipulate the family. I don't really care what the plan is so much as that we have a plan at all. I used to through fits about these sort of things but now I usually head to my room and resume reading.

I like to eat difficult things everyday.
I do like to know what happening and what time it's happening I make a basic Plane of what's happening in the day
I do hate it when they's a change

I don't have a schedule ("a plan for carrying out a process or procedure, giving lists of intended events and times") and don't like them. I hate keeping track of time and have difficulty doing it anyway. I do routines, though: "a sequence of action regularly followed". I usually have a routine that I follow in the morning, though it changes gradually over the years, do the same chores in the morning and eat the same breakfast every day. If I can I prefer to eat the same lunch every day too, and follow a routine in the evening, and do certain errands, etc. on a particular day of the week. I suppose NTs do this too, though I might be a bit more disturbed if it's disrupted. There are large portions of each day that aren't filled by routine, though, and the absolute time I do things is not important (just "after waking up", "after lunch", etc.).

I don't usually like being surprised by some activity or outing, though. I think that has more to do with the fact that I need time to psych myself up to deal with social situations.

I must know every thing coming up to be prepared. If I am unprepared, I will be completely lost. I will need to formulate a list of what could or could not happen during the event. If I am going to have to speak to anyone other than what I can expect, it will go terribly wrong. If for example someone has a need to stop at a store, I will remain in the car. No way I can enter a store without being completely ready with an exact plan on how to get in, get what is needed, but most important, get in and out without conversation and or eye contact with anyone.,

I get up about the same time every day,I do eat a lot of the same things and wear the same style of clothes(comfortable rural bag lady)make all appointments for early in the day (I think most criminals are slightly lazy so it's safer to go about then)I have a certain route I go to shop and really get flustered if I have to change this.I will never go back for something I forgot unless one of my animals needs it.I don't ride with other people if I can help it because they will hijack you and you may wind up going all sorts of places you don't want to go(heaven help us it's the mall!!).

I tend to eat the same foods everyday. I don't have a schedule right now but I used to. I'm like you that I get annoyed when I can't predict what we're doing next. I can't stand it when someone says we're doing X and they change it to Y.

I arise to the minute of the prior day. Same work, same meals, same quitting time. But my projects and moods change so I'm still human. Organized human, supposedly, some routines in eating and, especially sleeping, are healthy. Knowing what to expect on outings sounds normal to me. Is being late or bored anybody's idea of a goal?

I am disorganized and chaotic in some ways but do generally do the same thing every day, even if it is not scheduled to the moment. I work 6 days a week and usually go in at roughly the same time. I don't get home until 1-2 am and usually sit on my computer until 6 or 7 am before falling to sleep. When I wake up, between noon and 2 pm, I sit on the computer again until I go to my usual place to eat, where I usually have the same thing every day. When I come home, it is back to bed where I will sit on the computer until work. Now, this is not to say there is no variation in my schedule or food intake but rather that it is quite rare. Some times I get into a weekly schedule of checking places like thrift stores after lunch on a set day to see what interesting things I can find for cheap. I also used to have a set day to go to the local self service auto salvage yards to see if they had anything I needed for my projects (this has since been replaced by a daily check of the yard's website.) I can make changes when they are practical, but it is rare and difficult for me to get myself to do so. Usually it happens when I get very stressed out and my sense of normalcy gets thrown out of whack.