Does anyone else ever feel like this?

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One if the key characteristics of autism is the way that stimuli always cause our minds to race down the same pathways. There is actually lots of advantages to having a mind that works like that. But as soon as you become exposed to an alternate pathway, everything gets stuck between a rock and a hard place. Your brain will start to like the new pathway even though it needs the old one instead, and since you need to always race down the same pathway in order to function, trying to blend the 2 pathways together or switch back and forth between them is out of the question. Can anyone else relate to this? Has anyone ever been able to solve this puzzle?

If you are talking to non dentists you don't talk about how "bacteria gnawed their way through my enamel down to the nerve". You say "I have a friggin toothache!". Folks don't relate to the former, but definitely do to the latter.

Similarly talking about your "neural pathways" doesn't mean anything to any audience.

Talk about the outward symptoms (ie how it effects your life) with examples. Then we would be able to grasp WTF you're talking about.

Sorry Dane. I'm not really sure what you are talking about. My autism means I need things in simple English. Can you explain? or give examples? Thanks

I looked at cognitive thinking errors and thoughts beliefs, actions and did I like the consequence. (Good or bad).

Side note over the years I have been asked WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT too.

I was 33 when I started doing the above.
30 and 1/2 years later it still helps.

The best thing to do is assist your alternative pathway in complementing your previous, main pathway.

The world vis a vis your subjective self.

I do believe I experience the same thing. If you are trying to switch paths, the new path will be uncomfortable for quite some time. If the change is something I really want to make, then I have to make the effort to stay with the discomfort in the new path until it finally becomes comfortable. This can take a long period of time. Half the battle, though, is seeing the new path, so if you are seeing a new path and it is a better one for you, then you are half way there.

He wants the new path....but he doesn’t want to forget the old, autistic one.

Change is hard. It is easy to go back to the comfortable even if consequences are big or there is a better way.

We don’t have to forget old ways, or shut the door on them.

They can be a reminder of our own growth or guide to others.

One description of aspergers/autism is that your mind works like a train, rather than like an automobile. NTs can easily change lanes on the highway, while autistics are forced to move down a railroad track.

But most humans find it hard to switch one way of doing something for another way.

But if you're gonna talk about the subject it would be nice if you would talk about the software of your mind and less about the hardware of your brain.

Give examples like "its hard for me to learn a different route to drive to work" (for example), or "I just cant get in the habit of flossing my teeth each day" (or whatever the hell your issues are) instead of saying "I cant switch one neural pathway of my brain for another". Have some mercy on the reader. Lol!