"Groundhog Day" Syndrome

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Do any of you guys also seem to have "defaults" set in your mind that you believe is absolute gospel (and you'll kick and scream that you don't want to do X if you believe you're scared of it), find that your truth is incorrect if you try to use it, resolve to overcome the problem...and when you wake up in the morning the next day, with the context completely gone to "stimulate" your discovery, you go back to the default as if nothing had ever happened?

I call it "Groundhog Day" syndrome -- I decide to make a resolution and work hard to improve my life, yet when I wake up the next morning I'm back where I came from.

ACG

Ah yes. The False Resolution Syndrome. I experience that quite often myself. I think many people do.

But by the next morning, all those pumped up, excited juices have faded away with no more than a residual effect and the memory that we wanted and were resolved to do that last night but "now I just don't feel like it" or "it was a bad idea anyways"...

I've had occasion to trick myself into that mood again and re-excite myself about an idea once more. But this is hard to do and can take a good deal of concentration and "pumping up". It doesn't happen that frequently, this re-excitation.

This is going to sound wierd. One day I was feeling pretty low and was wondering around town by myself. That day, somehow I convinced myself that a packet of digestive biscuits (cookies to you US people) was all I needed to be happy. I bought a packet of biscuits, and I was in ecstacy. "This is it, this is all I ever need to be happy in my life - it's going to be so much better from now on."

The next day I couldn't reproduce that feeling at all, and a packet of biscuits has never made me happy since.

Biscuit therapy doesn't work in the long term

Is this common or Aspie?

I've noticed that if it's common, I have a VERY bad case of it. I've been stuck with the aftereffects of a religious upbringing for a long which I want to get rid of, resolve to do so, and...can't. The thoughts don't translate to action, and the few times that they do Groundhog Day Syndrome kicks in the next day and I'm back at square one.

ACG

I think it has a lot to do with our tendancy to prefer rigid and predictable schedules every day.

At least part of it may be common. I often think of possible plans of action I could try to fight bad habits such as procrastination, skin-picking, and chipping away at my self-confidence with pessimistic thoughts. I often don't try them. And when I do, I generally don't stick with them for very long. And I'm a neurotypical.

For an autistic, it's possible that the sense of chaos resulting from breaking a rule/habit could set in...does it feel dramatically uncomfortable when you defy these rituals?

Making major positive changes in how you conduct your life requires both comfort with variations in routine AND intense focus and determination...so insofar as autism gives a disadvantage in the former and neurotypicality gives a disadvantage in the latter, neither neurological class will find making important changes easier. You have to cultivate the best of both worlds.

I don't know about you guys but there are days when I get considerable pleasure from breaking from the norm, and doing something different (not usually social). Then the next day it's all back to normal.

The trouble is that every revolution in behavior that we look for, someone has taught us that it's all or nothing. We become terrified of crossing the middle, which seems like a horrible ordeal, when in truth what is in between is recovery and life. Where did I get the idea that it was wrong to be imperfect? It was because so many people nitpicked at me and used my imperfections as an excuse to clobber me. We're conditioned to the fear. This is just about all that we have to overcome.

For me the solution is to break things up into small step and work really hard on them. Taking big steps is overwhelming. It took me years to understand, for example, that I am not ugly. Actually I am far from it, but being the only person of color in my school made it hard to realize it. My family contributed by teasing me about how I looked (quite geeky, even as a child). I no longer believe that I am ugly. I spent about five years looking at myself and allowing me to see me. The same went for my IQ. It's quite high, and to this day people have an issue with a high IQ in a brown package. I spent fewer years realizing that I am intelligent, and now I realize that other people are blind to it for various reasons, not the least of which is my communication difficulties. Currently I am working on realizing that there is a possibility that people are not all inherently good. Or that people can be abusive. Or something. I am sure that it will take a few years because that seems to be my process.
I generally lose my good ideas because they come in a flood and I can't write them down fast enough. And I never have enough energy to carry out all my wonderful plans. Since I realize this, I just write them down and think of myself as an idea generator. My enthusiasm usually goes away before I go to bed. But at least I get some things on paper that I can think about and maybe work on later.

Yes, I've often wondered what would have happened had my wonderful ideas stuck around. They do tend to come in a flood as NeuroMan said, and are gone just as quickly. Sometimes I manage to write them down- I've a drawerful of good ideas on scraps from tissues to tp.

But they don't even get looked at again. If I manage to get going on something, it's ON! I'll spend 3-4 days without sleeping doing one thing and then crash and burn for several days. I better hope it got done- it may not ever be picked up again. If I get interrupted during this, by a phone call or having to do something in the world it's an automatic disqualification, end of task.

"Groundhog Day Syndrome" is a great name. I just spent a while writing to a friend about how I feel like I'm truly living in the moment, and this sort of thing happens constantly. I can decide, out of nowhere, that what I need is to GET ORGANIZED! Make those calls! Redo the kitchen! And it's a consuming task until something happens- then back to normal.

It has made me very wary of any impulses I may have.

I have a lot of impulses!

One of the hardest things for me to do is to follow a program of exercise, work, or study for days and then weeks at a time. The reason that I am as old as I am with few skills is because I eventually give up and do something else, literally find ways to lock myself out. I'm good at math because it never used to take me a long time to pick it up, but I haven't developed my programming or language skills well. This is very much a parallel to when I was forced to take my attention away from developing skills to follow someone else's program.

I have a hard time getting into a routine doing things I don't like (like cleaning). And I might even start to put a routine into place. But then it only takes one time, to skip a day or something, and my resolve gets weaker and weaker until finally I'm barely doing anything at all (of the unpleasant things I mean).

I just can't set up a reliable self-reward system for unpleasant activities. But I can certainly do them and do them fast and well with outside motivation.