Does your AS/Autism stop you from having fun?

Post Reply New Topic

I would just like to know, if one is overly conscious of your 'symptoms' (social skills and anxieties etc.) Any particular trait of yours that stops you from enjoying your spare time and recreational activities. For me my social anxiety and inabilty to make eye contact seriously affetced me when it came to enjoying myself. All group sports were a nightmare, and I never enjoyed myself when I went on holiday.

When I go to visit my mom's family in a different city, it would take me a long time to feel 'at home' once there. I suppose it was really my anxiety which stoppped me from appreciating the times of fun and enjoyment I should of had. Can anyone relate?

I have a different idea of fun from most people, I do like to indulge in my fun, but it is not the same kind of thing that most people consider to be fun. I like less of the social more of the activity, so going to a party, I would be more likely to get drunk out of my mind, as that is the activity, than to make good conversation. Although I do quite like to listening to others stories.

Yeah, I always dread visiting, but then it's not so bad once I'm there for a bit and situated. I know this, but every time I get a little bit jittery.

I can totally relate. I have never been one for new crowds or crowds in general. I prefer to observe rather than go leaping into issues. I feel self conscious about how I might be looking at someone or what I might say that would come out absolutely wrong. Even better than that, I might get distracted and not even catch what someone says to me. So this does create some social anxiety, a lot of people think we are incapable of this, they don't realize just how much we notice, we just notice it a bit too late. That being said, I try really hard not to let this stop me from going out and talking to people and relating to people. I aim to educate rather than withdraw. If i have a slipup, I just say it's one of my "things" and if they get to know me enough, they will understand. Just about everyone who knows me in this area, knows I have autism. I still have the anxieties tho. I don't think they will ever go away.

Never give up.

I actually quite like to go to family get togethers, simply because I can hear the stories of others, which are less small talk, and more in depth. Its the initial greatings that bother me, so during the time when everyone is greeting, I'm hiding in my shell.

Sometimes it does.

I also had a lot of trouble before I got decent eye-contact. People would talk down to me, be very rude just because I didn't look them in the eyes. How stupid, by the way. As if looking at spot B makes me a different person than I am when looking at spot A. For all those people out there, I think it makes a whole difference for reasons I can't fathom.

Also, the whole matter of 'thank you', 'are you okay' 'do like this' 'are you uncomfortable' and so on really added to that my social experiences would fit my intentions and benefit me in the way I expected them. Again, I find it rather odd that such nonsense words suddenly enable me to participate in many groups. I'm still working on that.

I guess it depends what "fun" means to you.

I certainly don't seem like I have much fun when going out with NT friends, especially in clubs- if I like the music I'd just have fun by myself (I don't know how to join in the fun with others on the dancefloor), if I don't like the music I'd just sit with the bags and inspect my surroundings (the last time I went to a club with friends I spent the whole night wondering why there were 5 plugs on the ceiling- it was a very high ceiling and it just seemed pointless. I wanted to ask the manager about it but my friends told me not to embarrass them )

on the other hand, things that seem fun to me usually seem boring to NTs, like making graphs or cataloguing things.

there are occasions when I enjoy social situations and have fun together with other people, but I only know a handful of genuinely fun NTs and they are often busy :p.

not at all..... all i do is partake in my versions of fun.
i am poor, highly impulsive, AS and i like to meow, mimic and hang around the hose and studio where i can be me.

but it took a few years to get to here

When I would get in troubel with my parents before my diagnosis, they would just think I was being rude and ignorant about it because I would not look at them directly. I got the line "Look at me when I am talking to you" very often. Then they got me diagnosed, and then they started learning about it, and I will say that a lot of what they read didn't apply to me directly, but there were a few good things that came of it.

The manager would have just thought your were drunk. Your friends would have been embaressed because this was just you, and they don't want to come off as wanting to be around alcoholics. Honestly, I would have been like, go ahead if you want to, don't involve me, but tell me the answer when you find out!

I make my own kind of fun at home. Usually talking back to the TV or radio. It amuses me but I suspect that if there was someone else in the room, they would just think I was strange & totally unfunny. But who cares.

I haven't really had fun in many many years. However, I do things that I like, to make things ore enjoyable.

All of my "fun" activities are solitary, and are not interfered with by AS symptoms.
Indeed, AS is a big reason WHY I find certain things fun.

Fun for me is being in the garden, playing music, reading, on the computer, walking, taking trips to nature preserves, cooking, writing. All of these I do by myself, and would feel crowded and uncomfortable if I did them with anyone else.

Naturally, when I am at work, or the store, or anywhere social and public, I am painfully aware of my AS symptoms, and I blunder through my daily interactions with people.

Like Acacia, I attribute my AS to having fun with those things I enjoy---obsessive interests. But as i_wanna_blue stated, the knowing that I have AS does make me quite aware of my autistic ways. But I enjoy it now. Before I knew I was autistic, I worried about myself in how socially awkward I was. Now I know why I am that way, and I am becoming more relaxed. I still find social things awkward, but I no longer think I am weird. I know that AS has caused it. I am relaxing with it. I am also receiving some therapy for issues involving being a better father and husband---it is helping.

Nope, Asperger's dosent stop me from having fun, I just have different fun to NTs

Ok, let me put it this way. If you are out of your comfort zone (for me that means being in a group, going on holiday and staying in a place you're not fimiliar with etc.) does that affect your enjoyment levels ie. are you paying too much attention and are your symptoms proving too much of a distraction when it comes too just letting go, like everyone else seems too?

I know, I love time alone and obsesseing over my interests. (But I am comfortable when alone)