Any Aspies Without "Routines"?

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I don't do anything that i would really consider a "routine".... My life is pretty unstructured, actually. I'm not really a spontaneous person(except for sometimes spontaneously wanting to do something i'm already pretty familiar with! like "hmm.. i think i want to check out the pet shop... *drives off*"), but of the things i usually do i never have a specific order or whatever. The only "routines" i ever really had were OCD-type things that i did a lot(at one point excessive hand washing, for example) when i was younger, before i was on antidepressants. I like to have an idea of what i'm going to do before i do it, but that seems to be the extent of my "routine" behavior. But, then again, on all the little personality tests i always answer "yes" to a bunch of the questions that fall into the "routine"-related category. Maybe i'm just misinterpreting the meaning of "routine," i'm not sure. Is there anyone else here that this "symptom" doesn't seem to apply to, or only applies to in atypical sort of ways?

I was always regarded as a pretty flexible person -- was even given a chameleon ornament by a friend once, because she said I adapted so easily to other people's needs, that this represented me. I had routines, but could easily change them if required, to suit a greater need.

It is when I am anxious and stressed that I fall back more on routines. This sometimes goes on for months or years, when there is underlying anxiety, even if on the surface I am fairly relaxed and happy.

(PS Edited to add: I assumed the question was referring to typical AS routines. Naturally I always have work routines and other living routines as any neurotypical person would have if they want to hold down a job!)

Ooooh, me! *waves hand around*
I like it a lot better when there's less routine. I usually have no idea what I'm doing next weekend/etc because I just let people drag me wherever. And I like to do new things and explore new stuff and I always try to mix up my daily activities, but they do get monotonous sometimes. D: I mean, sometimes unexpected situations can be stressful, but that's better than boring IMO.

My routine is based on my work and my class schedule.My employer switches the days and hours around so my "routine" is based on what my employer decides.Other than that, I hang out at in my room on my computer most of the time.If I have money, I will go to the mall and on some nights go to the farside or the vat (bars).

to have a routine doesnt need to be obsessive. while a young child with autism may need his whole day scheduled TO KEEP THEM ON TRACK, its not necessarily true they will FOREVER keep that way of life. You may have SMALL routines you dont even notice. A routine can simply be a way of going about a certain situation. IE. When you get home, you jump on the computer. Thats what you normally do, doesnt mean it has to be THE FIRST thing you do tho. Who knows, one day you may need to rush to bathroom as you get home, and then you check mail. But sooner or later you will get on the computer because its part of your DAILY ROUTINE.

Do not mistake routine with being obsessive. You may just have certain ways you do things that apply to your lifestyle. They dont have to be completely structured, just a general idea of what you do. Some are obsessive with thier routines, but not everyone. Im not a routine person, but I generally wake up at the same time, take my shower at the same time, do things in a pattern that seems to save time for me. It just makes things easier that way.

I have routines for socializing, like always saying "hey, how's the day going?" thats how say hi. If I dont agree with someone, I say, "you keep telling yourself that". Routine just means what you fall back on, when you know not what to do otherwise.

Just my opinion, I could be wrong.

I've never had any organization or consistency of how i spend my time. I was diagnosed.

I think the confusion is to whether "routines" refers to some sort of "ritual pattern" to the way you do everyday things (eg. taking off your shoes, waking up in the morning, cleaning the kitchen and so forth) or it refers to a daily "schedule" of activities.

According to the first understanding, I do a vast majority of daily activities according to a "routine" or "ritual pattern".

However, I do not follow a regular "schedule" of activities. If I am at home on a Saturday, I might play computer for ten minutes, lose interest, wash dishes for ten minutes, loose interest, do laundry for ten minutes, loose interest etc.

i am too scattered to have very rigid rituals/routines...but it really depends on the definition..
I am sorta programmed so that the first thing I do when I wake up is go on WP..and my trying to stop that is like trying to stop a train.
I go out with my parents every Wednesday...if that counts...

I guess I don't know how narrow they have to be to count.
I have an Aspie friend who always must face his money...I am too scattered for something like that...

There are large parts of every day that are not exactly structured..but there are certain patterns I tend to move in...depending on various factors involved.

My left brained self is fixated on routines and order.

My right brained self delights in messing all my order around.

Where as my higher self (when I take time and care to listen) allows these two parts of me to dance together, and somehow, out of this t'ai chi' of my self, my routines become more life affirming, and my spontaneity becomes more productive.

Saying all that, life is a daily challenge for me.

Chris

There's a lot of routine in my life, and I hate it if anybody messes with it. Usually I'll make changes gradually, one at a time, when I can see a good reason.

But now I come to think of it, there have been times when I've driven a bus through my own routines - I've left/dumped partners, moved house, and sometimes those sudden changes have made me feel a lot better........and once, I left my job and moved to a new city for a completely new life - effectively changed almost everything - friends, job, diet....I was actually eating with a group of about 10 people and practically everything became communal. Naturally it was stressful, but a lot of that could be down to the fact that some of the changes weren't as beneficial as I'd hoped, on account of the people not being as tolerant, egalitarian and kindhearted as they'd first seemed to be. It certainly didn't do me a lot of good, and I'd sure think twice about doing it again, but I survived and continued to function pretty normally. Interesting, you'd have thought an Aspie would have sunk like a stone under the weight of such a plethora of Aspie-unfriendly nonsense.

Ah, this is interesting. So it seems that that are quite a few Aspies for whom the whole "routine" thing doesn't necessarily present itself as a "symptom." I've been curious about that, because that's one big things about whether or not i have AS i've been pondering over. I guess i do end up doing some things the same way over and over... but it's rarely inflexible if i need to change it up.. It just simply usually doesn't occur to me to do something in a different way when i did it one way the first time. But, yeah, i don't have any kind of strict routine adherence that people seem to associate with AS. And i see there are actually some AS-diagnosed people for whom this is the case aswell.

"Routines or rituals" are only listed as a "maybe" in DSM-IV and ICD-10, according to Mattila et al:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diagnosis_ ... c_criteria


Repetitive routines are not part of the Triad of Impairments; this is a typical description of how routines fit into the overall AS picture:
"Alongside the triad of impairments, the child will usually show repetitive activity of behaviour. At a simple level, this might involve repeatedly flicking their fingers or an object like a piece of string. More complex signs might include an insistence on following an identical route to certain places, a lengthy bedtime ritual or the repetition of a sequence of odd bodily movements."
http://www.devdis.com/asd.html

So, all in all, it's perhaps not so surprising that not all Aspies are glued to a rigid routine. Though I didn't appreciate that until I looked it all up today.

I vary between being overly spontaneous (ADHD) and having detailed autistic routines (AS/HFA).

im more into routines cant function without

Subjectively, I would say that I don't have inflexible routines at all--it is just that through the years I have refined my way of doing things to the most efficient way, have tried all the permutations, and determined that messing with what works is counter-productive. But objectively...hell, yeah, I have routines. However, I notice that most nt folks around me have routines as well and they resist messing with their way of doing things, too. The animals I see when I go hiking every morning are pretty obsessive in their routines. So it is a pretty fine line in many instances of whether it is a "symptom". I don't find the descriptor "non-functional" to be very helpful, as that is pretty subjective itself. I see the function, someone else may not.