I wonder if this could be an Aspie thing

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skibum
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16 Apr 2014, 12:35 am

Sometimes I have things that I think about that are super important to me. I understand that these are not the things in life that are super important but they are to me. And I have to talk about them with people who understand how important they are to me and who can seriously listen to me and meet me at my level. I think this has to do mostly when my brain is stuck in little kid mode. For example I recently got some new ski socks. These socks are what we call duo thickness, ultrathin on the foot and calf and light on the shin and heel. They are designed that way to give you a specific feel in your boots for a better response. Now this is super important to me. And the thickness of ski socks is an extremely important factor to all serious skiers but most people, even the most serious skiers, don't have this insane need to talk about this. It is not something that makes the world go round. Most people pick out their socks and ski in them. I have this need to have this in depth discussion about every intricate detail of my socks and it has to be with someone who can really appreciate them and know what I am talking about. But this is not only about ski stuff. The things that are important to me are really important to me. When I got my new stim toys at the expo I had to take them right away to my brother's job and show them to him. There are so many important things about life that I have to deal with like how to manage a household and take care of a husband and pay bills and all that stuff that is really important. But I wonder if it is an Aspie thing to place so much importance on your new stim toys or your new socks that you just can't not talk about them like they were what makes the world go round. And the weird thing is that if I had a real crisis like, don't know, some big adult kind of thing like I had to figure out how to put food on the table or something really important, my stim toys and new socks would be right next to that in the list of priorities. I have often been told that I don't prioritize properly and I wonder if this could be an Aspie thing.


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jbw
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16 Apr 2014, 1:06 am

skibum wrote:
And the weird thing is that if I had a real crisis like, don't know, some big adult kind of thing like I had to figure out how to put food on the table or something really important, my stim toys and new socks would be right next to that in the list of priorities.


I would concur that each of us has specific topics that are top priority, no matter what, without any rational justification.

However, I would argue that the same is true for neurotypicals. For them, from what I have observed, often the protection of social status is a top priority.

Overall, for people on the spectrum, I would expect variability in terms of irrational choices that influence priorities. Neurotypicals simply seem more predictable in their irrationality.

But perhaps from the neurotypical perspective social status is as essential (a rational top priority concern) for physical functioning as the availability of a quiet place to retreat for someone on the autism spectrum.

Would a relative rationality theory proposed by someone on the spectrum conflict with black and white thinking? :wink:



cberg
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16 Apr 2014, 1:26 am

I don't ascribe anything irrational to my tastes - a lot of us tend to find the best implements for all we do.


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jbw
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16 Apr 2014, 3:58 am

cberg wrote:
I don't ascribe anything irrational to my tastes - a lot of us tend to find the best implements for all we do.


Best is always defined according to our unique individual yardsticks for rationality. From a different perspective the choices may seem irrational. Thus Rationality is never absolute, it is always tied to a specific viewpoint.