Did you live in the moment?

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I wonder if anyone else on the autism spectrum lived in the moment as children.

I lived in the moment as a child like small kids do. Whatever happened it was done and over with. I can't imagine how hard this must have been for my mother because if I had done something wrong or made a mistake let's say, it was hard to talk to me about it and discipline me about it because I had moved on from it and I wouldn't know what I was in trouble about and I also remember thinking as a kid not understanding why I would be in trouble for something I did last time or did the day before, etc so I always thought they were doing it out of anger and revenge and to be mean. When I was younger I would say things like "I am not in the sandbox" when my mom would try and talk to me about something I did in the sandbox that was naughty and I was doing another activity while she was trying to talk to me. My brain worked like a dog, you had to catch me in the act to discipline me. If you find a wet spot on the floor, you can't rub a dog's face in it or bring them to that spot and scold them because they won't connect that wet spot to themselves making it earlier because they also live in the moment. I was the same way, I wasn't able to connect a consequence to my actions if it was already over and done with.

I would say I grew out of this sometime in middle school because I don't remember being this way in high school but I was this way still in seventh grade because I can remember I was doing my homework and my mom was helping me with it and my dad came upstairs and said "Mr. N called and he said they don't want you calling them anymore." My response. "I didn't call them." My mom asked me "When did you call them" and I said "never." (I had called them two days ago so therefore I never called them because I was doing my homework and I never even touched the phone). So my mom had to ask me when did I last call them and when was it and which say so I told her it was two days ago. But I thought it was very strange they would wait two days to call us to say they didn't want me calling them anymore acting like I had just called them so it was very confusing. That was me living in the moment.

Hmm for me I'd say I get past things quickly sometimes if I made a mistake. If I add a mistake 2 days ago and someone tries to argue with me about it I'll have trouble totally remembering everything because it was 2 days ago and not right now. I do make lots of mistakes mind you. If I was to feel upset every time I would be depressed so I move on and try not to make mistakes again. My family used to say that I didnt understand how others are still annoyed days later after I did something and I don't care anymore. Sorry I'm not good at explaining.

I see what you mean, if someone has a problem they should tell you immediately and not later on. I guess you won't remember what you did if you don't realise what you did was significant. I think it's same for me.

I can remember my mom or teachers drawing me pictures about a situation that took place a while ago and I couldn't understand why they were bringing it up or making a big deal about it. Why couldn't they just move on? Whatever happened to "it was a long time ago" and leaving it alone?

I realize now that some children do pretend to not remember what they did wrong just so they can get out of a consequence so I can understand now why it would be shoved in my face and not let it go. I would even start to apologize just to get it over with so they are happy and can move on even if I didn't remember it or know what they were talking about.

I am sure this happens to everyone from time to time because sometimes something happens between two people and the person A doesn't think it was a big deal so they forget about it. Then months later they find out person B is still mad about it so they are holding it against them and person A is left confused but they also apologize but the person B is still upset about it and the person A finds it very confusing but figure it's person's B problem. I did this a lot as a child so whatever I did must have been pretty significant (eg. hitting) than little things that are no big deal most people would forget about or not want to bother with if it happened a while ago. But I was like this about everything no matter how big a deal it was. I hear it has to do with concrete thinking because it was too abstract. Even toddlers live in the moment because they can't comprehend later consequences so you have to catch them in the moment to punish them and also because they can't remember they had a tantrum at the store so they won't comprehend consequence to what they did at the store if it happened a while ago even though it was an hour ago it happened. I was like this and I grew out of this at middle school age.