The Issue of Sameness

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Time for me to try another poll topic!

Okay, the question this time is about doing things the same way and staying comfortable with a set routine. How much does this affect your life?

Do you have to eat the same foods? Do you have to take the same route to work every day? Wake up and go to bed at the same time? Do you only go to the same places and have to force yourself go to someplace different?

I was thinking about a bit recently and I say it affects me most of time. I mean with food as an example I have to tendency to stick with only a certain brand and can't get myself like different brands when trying them, so I just stick with the one brand and won't have anything else. I'm also only really comfortable going to this one gas station in my town for fuel. I mean I could go to some other places, but I feel I have to force myself to go them. I only like to shop at certain stores, Best Buy, Borders, Giant... I hardly ever go to any other stores of the same type. I'm just comfortable at those places.
I admit I do have some dietary restrictions due my IBS so I've grown accustomed to eating the same things and this pattern is pretty much frozen into me. I'm too wary of trying new foods for the fear sometimes that'll aggravate my IBS, but it's also because I'm just more comfortable doing it the same way. Like if I go to a Subway; I always get the same type of sandwich, made the same way. I like it just the way I do it. Sometimes I try to change it a bit but I still go back to the same thing again.

I've read that doing the same ways is a big deal for autistics.
Another thought that occurred to me in relation to this, is that if you learn how to do something a certain way the first time, that you only prefer to it the first way afterwards?
I'm thinking like if you had a certain type of food, done a certain way the first time, for then on you'd only like it that way and wouldn't be able to like any other way. I've been wondering how much that comes into effect on my diet choices.

As always, feel free to elaborate.

Most of my day is routined. It just kind of turned out that way where I do everything the same way at around the same time. I don't mind minor adjustments though or going out of my routine every once in a while. It's the big changes that I have difficulty with. Like attempting to change my personality to fit into a NT world. I also often worry about how I will get to the point where I want to move out of the house and have to deal with living on my own in a new place.

With foods I often eat the same thing. I usually have one item I like at each restaurant and I get it every single time. I would try new foods, but since I have a hypersensitive sense of taste there are a lot of foods I don't like.

I do have a tendency to become very routinised.
I have the same bedtime routine and it has to be in the same order.
I have the same getting up routine, same order.
I have to be out by a certain time or I feel panicky.
I like to have my coffee out in the same cafe, at the same of two tables.
I like to take the same routes to places.
I come home the same time each evening just about.
I have certain things in their place, all lined up the same.
I always get very stressed before I am to go to London to visit my mother because it means a total routine change. I adapt well, fortunately, and go into some sort of coping mode.

I buy the same foods every day too and stick to the same things when out.

I do pretty much the same things day in and day out, but every once in a while I get the urge to do something drastically different-you know, like moving the couch to the left a little, or rotating my livingroom arrangement 90% to the right (everything same spots and all, just different walls, lol).

On nights I veer off of my regular routine, I wind up right back in it by the next morning (if I go out to eat or something similar I mean, which is rare).

I'm comfortable with my routine at work, but I'm not averse to trying new things.

I have a pretty free flowing life without much routine.

And if things are too similar... I eventually get bored.

But I also get comfort from knowing what is going to happen, I don't like surprises that much...

Pugly,

I agree. I hate surprises, especially unpleasant ones. I am the kind of person who needs to know things. I hate when people don't communicate. I especially hate lousy planning.

Answers:
1. Yes,
2. more or less (I don't get out much),
3. not at all,
4. and mostly yes.

Have major issues w/food on sensory level, so am totally this way-consistency (uniformity of item's texture, mouthfeel, odor, flavor, etc. on single occasion & over course of repeat encounters) is crucial aspect for anything I consume. Infuriates me how companies are always altering or discontinuing the only items I can stand. Then I no longer like the item, not because it was changed but because the change was for the worse (and now item is yucky !). I can imagine improvements for foods that aren't 'perfect enough' in my opinion, so if those were the changes made I'd be satisfied with that 'lack of routine'.

I like what I like not merely for sake of enacting routine-the reason it became routine in first place is because I found the best available version/way/procedure for my idiosyncratic tastes, preferences, needs and sensibilities.

Not sure-admit there are situations in which what would be considered pleasant surprise is still distressing & unsettling for me, the unexpected (no warning or time to prepare & 'shift set') bothers me mostly because it's different, a change.

I welcome change.

I select a new hair colour at random. I drive without directions and find my way there eventually. I take a stab in the dark about where I am going by train and then wander until I actually do find it. I choose a new colour and wear it boldly, even I'd never dared before. I will go to a new destination without a plan, no hotel room, no events planned, etc and just "wing it" (not bothered about sleeping in a vehicle if I must, either... )

Fairly free spirit in this sense...

I say:


Don't fear change, change is awesome! Take the plunge and follow your heart. Live all of your dreams, only you can make them reality. If it doesn't work, don't give up~ change what you are doing.

...we only have this one chance at life, so LIVE IT!


*** That said, if I am not in the mood for it one day, then, well, I wait until I am. If I gave the same amount of weight to "sameness" as others, I WOULD BE A BASKETCASE FOR SURE!! !! !! !! I used to hate, hate, hate (to the point of meltdowns) when people would not follow through as promised, so instead, I expect nothing from anyone, ever!! !

I'm not sure which one of those things to pick as my answer. I'm a very routine person, but I know that I could be worse. How do I know this? Because my son has got to be one of the worst cases of "insists on routine" that I've ever even heard of. He's gotten better over this last year, but not by that much. He drinks out of the same cup, eats off of the same plate, and eats the same food everyday. His morning, and bedtime routine is done in such a precise way that one little deviance off of the path will set him into meltdown mode. He learned how to read labels when he was about 2, so there was no tricking him into trying different brands of food. His geographical skills are amazing. He knows when you're taking a different route, even if he's only been to the place that we're going once.
I eat mostly the same foods everyday. I like to shop at the same places, too. I have the certain times of the day that things HAVE to go as planned ie; supper MUST be done at 6, and the kids have to be in their baths, and in bed by their bedtimes. If any of these things go wrong I start to get anxious. Sometimes, I can calm myself down. Sometimes, I can't. I think that one of the reasons that I don't have many friends is because people are unpredictable. I like things to go on a very planned out basis. I don't know what to do if someone calls me, or drops by unplanned. I don't like surprises. I need to know what's going to happen, so that I can mentally prepare for it. If things are done on the fly I just get stuck. It's like I have zero ability to improvise. Don't even get me started on the housework. Things have to be put away, and organized in a very symmetrical logical system, as dictated by me. It just feels like chaos if things aren't in the order that I need for them to be.

or me it depends on the situation.
Things like moving, or major changes seriously bother me. So does moving furnature around, or having to get rid of my stuff.
yet, I can change my clothes up to like 3 times a day, & I compulsively change my Myspace display pic all the time. I think those are more OCD type things.

I eat different foods. I go by the prices. I always drink nonfat milk though and eat non fat yogurt but I can be flexible by drinking low fat milk or eating low fat yogurt because that is what is avaliable to eat at work or here at home.

I take the same routes to work, I go to bed at a certain time when I come home from work, I shower before midnight, I always go to Best Buy for whenever a new Simpsons DVD gets relased and South Park too. I always shop at Wal Mart for stuff I need because of the low prices. I always watch Benny & Joon and do computer everyday before work. I can be flexible if I have to be. I can change my routine if I have to but too many changes I find it stressful. Like if I had a lot of errands to run all in one day, I hate that. I tend to procrastinate too for things that need to be done. I am finally going to have my oil changed tomorrow since its about 1,000 miles over due. I find it very hard to leave the house to do things. Luckily my boyfriend understands and still likes me the way I am and he doesn't get mad at me. But I do worry he is going to get tired of me one day and will leave me because of my routines. I told him before I am a lousy girlfriend and I suck in relationships. As of now I am already planning my Tuesday since I am off that day. I always need to plan my days ahead of time before that day comes. But I don't set them in stone. I use them as ideas.

I always have to be out with my friends, every night. If that routine is derailed, than I might have trouble sleeping, the second or third night. I always have to be on the Internet for a while, each morning. I have to have lunch at noon, every day. I've gotten used to working every day, until I've quit my job. Now I need another job, but one that's more suited for me. I have to watch 'Flushed Away' once a month, 'Austin Powers', every two months. I feel that I must always have tea between 2 and 3 PM, every day. I feel that I must go to Toastmasters, every second Thursday. I feel that I need to do one chore before I leave my apartment, each morning.

I always have to eat at Fergusons when I am in Spokane. That is the must thing to do on my list there. I always have to look at the house, the garage, and the apartment from Benny & Joon. The park I don't have to go to because I drive by it and it costs money to park my car downtown so there. Plus I wouldn't want to walk in the rain since its that time of year again. Does Spokane get lot of rain as much as Portland?