Exploitation films and dedicated fanbases in Autism/ Christiane F.

Autistics have a hard time moving on. We are often stuck in time.

Fixations are common for autistics .

Everybody has a song, a film, a concert, that marked their life however, it is easier for neurotypicals to move on, whereas autistics tend to get stuck to the first impacting event in their life.

My ‘fixation’ is British singer and actor David Bowie.

I grew up in the 80/90s with him and he s still considered the most influential glam-rock artist of all times 9 years from his passing.

Many contemporary artists carry on his legacy still, I can’t enjoy them.
I call that fixation, ‘paranoia’ in medical.

Is paranoia an illness or a passion?
Are Elitarian Aspies-ASDs ndr- autistic or not?
Aspies have a specific fixation.
In my opinion, they are not autistic.

My belief is supported by the scientific community that encourages the discontinuation of the ‘high/low functioning Autism’ definitions.
Latest research is headed towards Autism and ASD as two unrelated disorders.

But back to the article s topic: Cult movies.

I adore to death the 1981 film ‘Christiane F.’
Needless to say, David Bowie is featured in the movie.
I can watch it endlessly.
All my emotions are re-lived in that true story: a denied youth, desolation…
I don’t praise the destructive behavior of the characters involved in heavy drugs but the strong sense of camaraderie.

A movie, a song, can catch one’s momentum.
I identified in that movie.
Nothing wrong with it as far as you can move on.

I’m trapped in my past.
And I can’t get out.


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80 s Fame Music Stars

Neurodiversity is evidently a ‘requirement’ in the show-business… whether real or staged, what role does Entertainment play in mental health?

I was deeply disturbed by the deaths of Tina Turner and Sinead O’ Connor. Most of the 80 s celebrities have died in the last decade.
Needless to say, they were human encyclopedias of mental illness.

I don’t worship celebrities, I honour the ones who played a role in my life, i.e. David Bowie, Madonna, Michael Jackson…

What role celebrities play?
Entertainment for sure, but not only.

Each celebrity, or ‘icon’ in the music industry, is associated with a particular audience.

The 80s saw the emergence of the Gothic movement.
David Bowie was the pioneer and the inspiration of all 80s musicians.
Peoples who grew up in those days, were inevitably influenced.
Song-lyrics were romantic, sad, reflective.
Dressing in black and purple was trendy between the young.
My generation still lives in that dimension.

Movements are a form of protection.
Gothic clubs for the middle-aged thrive as of today in America.
In Europe, they disappeared.

History repeating itself: everything borne in the Old Continent and move to the New World.

Tina Turner was the exception: she was born in America and moved to Europe in mid-life.
She downplayed her role.

R.I.P.




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States of mind

Managing time is awkward with ADHD/ASD yet inevitable.

Finding the right balance is essential in relationships. Combining time with reward is very powerful in brain neurotransmission.

Time is a State of mind to me.

Man created Time.
God is timeless.
To say that my mind determines Time, I m not a 9 to 5 person.

My definition of Time is Motivation.
Without motivation I can’t do anything.
ADHD Medication becomes indispensable to pave the way to deadlines.

However, I understand that Time is a form of respect too and I try hard to compromise with my partner.

I’ll give an example: I want to post my blogs to date. 
She wants me to post on her platform of choice in her Time, e.g. “tomorrow is better”…. What’s the difference between today and tomorrow once the editing is done???

That’s a major loss of Motivation/Time to me.

Today is one of those days.

But I’m pretty good at compromising by going into ‘compensation mode’: “Ok, I’ll keep Bowie playing all day!” 

And we both end up happy.

So, could Time be a form of Compromising?






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Passing time

Prime is the best period of one’s life.

 I hate talking about it, yet the more I try to focus on more positive thoughts, the more Time gets in the way. Is it possible that all my pathologies are time-sensitive??? To what extent Time affects you?

Time is possibly the worst dimension created by Man, the awareness of human mortality, just to go one step further by dividing time into generations: we gave youth a good name and old age a bad one.
As Christians, we are supposed to know that there is eternal life after earthly death.

So why obsessing over passing time?!
It is mainly part of Western culture.
Watches are just fashion accessories for some people: time is personal for them, for convenience only, i.e. distinguish night from day, although people adjust hours to their comfort. 
Being late or early does not affect them.
Only certainty, nothing ever happens at the given hour.

I never had issues with time in my country.
I noticed fear of passing time is common between expats.
That led me to discern time from sense of belonging.
We all want to go home at a given time.
God knew us before we were born, hence there’s got to be a reason as to why we were born in a specific place.
Jesus said “Go and spread the Gospel”, though He also indicates us where to go, where we are most needed.

It upsets me how some youngsters define the Prime of life between 20 and 30. 

‘Prime’ doesn’t mean ‘Young’, it is the best period of one s life and can be ANY age, nonetheless the saying “life starts again at 40!”

However, time has a different dimension in autism.
Since Autism is a life-long condition, there s not really a Prime for autists.
Nowadays, there is more awareness and people are diagnosed mainly in childhood.

Children spend more time with teachers than parents in school-age.
My school years were pure hell.

I’m much better off now, though I can’t talk of Prime. 
I never will, probably. I can talk of good days and bad days, eventually.
The good news is that I’ll never feel old.

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Projection

Living the Present is a great struggle in our fast-paced life. 
Mental Health professionals refer to Projection for Compulsive Planning.

We all project to a varying degree.
However, it turns out that long-term projecting works any good: circumstances change, so do the effects on anxiety.
I ‘m working hard on Projecting, the more I project, the more anxious I become.

The difficulty of living the present is exacerbated by social interactions.
It is not always possible being on the same line of thought, even between husband and wife.
This leads to project.

It’s not easy to make it alone in a relationship.
A good Spiritual Director is vital, personally my Priest.
I pray my wife will listen to him.
Projecting is typically of female nature: the household is still largely managed by women, whereas for most men, house is still synonym of dormitory.
Men are more likely to stand the chance.
I wouldn’t condemn planning in the short-term altogether, provided it doesn’t become Projection.

In essence, Planning is pursuing a realistic path, henceforth boosting productivity.
Projection is an abstract idea, lacking self-esteem and boosting anxiety, in brief, an Illusion.
Unfortunately, they are often perceived interchangeably in the neurodivergent, complicit their thin line.

The good news is that there is a winning strategy for Discernment: Coordination, Prioritization. 
The Neurotypical are not exempt by this subtle mental demise, they know how to separate Planning from Projection by revising a Decision.
To say, it is not impossible for the Neurodivergent to learn the method.

So it goes, according to business-advisors:
Step 1- Allow Planning and Projection to occur interchangeably.
Step 2- Select Priorities to make a realistic Plan.
Step 3- Leave Projection as an hypothetical fostering strategy, once the Plan goes in port.
The process should not take more than 2 hours, or risk interchanging info again.
That is particularly important to avoid Hyperfocus in ADHD.

Although the method was developed for Marketing purposes, it is being tested successfully in psychology.


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Early Autism Diagnosis

Autism can be better managed when diagnosed in childhood. Don’t wait to address your diversity.

Age is a major issue in Autism.

Most people still believe Autism is a childhood condition that eventually will naturally stabilize in adulthood.

Many adult autistics are unaware and undiagnosed.

Teachers knew nothing of Mental Health 40 years ago.
Nowadays teachers are most likely the first to pique up learning disabilities in pupils. 

If not for my wife, I’d still wouldn’t know.
I must have been in a dark, long tunnel, unaware of my own struggles in life.
Receiving the diagnosis brought me some relief, as if each piece of the puzzle were falling into place, helping me to explain the many inexplicable painful feelings I had experienced up until now.

Today I read of an 18 yo autistic girl world-renowned deejay: she only functions with music still, she was diagnosed at 3!

My hope is that a cure for adult autistics will be found asap, as to put an end to the traumatic memories from childhood to torment us.




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Time’s Panic

The Future is Now.

Time in Christianity is the Present, yet we live in the Past and obsess over invisible things like the Future. Planning is legitimate if put in the “Yours will be done” context. There is no foreseeing the future whether you’re religious or not. It’s just a matter of escapism. Don’t build your trap. 

I’m obsessing over time again.

I feel guilty about it as a Christian, but I’m a human.

I want to go home.
I can’t concentrate.

Writing helps and doesn’t: it keeps thoughts at bay yet increases awareness.

I’m looking for the best deal, I m trapped in fear.
Should I take a break?

In fact, I don’t like the word ‘blog’, I prefer ‘journal, article, essay’.
All this Internet slang gradually destroying our mother-tongues.
I wonder what will happen to current languages in 50 years or less. 
I occasionally have difficulty understanding ‘Internet generations’.
Some say “it s the natural order of things”.
I disagree. 
Shall we divide society into decades?
I want to communicate with all age groups.

Age is just a number still, I panick about time.


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Self-denial

Self-denial is my way of self-identifying at a distance.

When I m unproductive, I work on making my neighbour happy.
I believe in “Giving to Receive”.

There are days when I run out of inspirational resources and there’s nothing I can do for myself. Conversely, there’s always something we can do for others.
In media jargon, it’s called ‘Networking’, although I favour ‘Altruism’.

Today I have negative thoughts.
I can only think of home, I worry about my autistic brother.
What can I do from here?

A video call will clear up my Thoughts by giving me Peace of Mind.
In the meantime, I’ll make my brother happy.

Humans always need excuses…

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Communication’s barriers

Face-to-face communication is always more effective. 

Speaking the same language with people of different races is translated culturally. Communication is amazingly 70% bodily and only 30% verbal. Don’t confuse Globalization with Communication. Learn the culture of the people before jumping to conclusions, even more so in our technological age.

Communication is not just about language.
It’s about culture first and foremost.
The same word in the same language is conceptualized in different backgrounds.

Linguists define the practice ‘Inculturation’.

Today I was explaining the meaning of ‘neurodiversity’ to my wife.
After a heated discussion, we came to the conclusion that we were talking of the exact same thing.

Globalization is not Conceptualization.
This is where social media fail.
The same language speaks differently to different cultures.

Speaking in person is always preferable.

When communicating online, it is important to run a pre-screening on the country we are going to exchange with.


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Compromise and ADHD

Reward is an indispensable component of my daily life.

Work is the most common form of reward, these days.
The neurotypical spend more time at work than at home, sadly.

I like my job however, reward runs in a different direction for me: I need my post-work reward.

Matching work with entertainment entails two main obstacles: preferences and time, even more so, in an interracial marriage.
You’ll have to assume that work and reward go hand-in-hand in this country where I live with my wife.
I fully love my wife, despite differences exist in all couples.
Respectfully arguing is constructive and inevitable.

Our timetables are very changeable. 

Home serves as relaxation to me, Homework is out of the question.

For my wife, home is a personal clinic: she would organize for the next day, soak in the bathtub for two hours, hit the bed to watch a movie at 10pm, my sleeping time, since I need at least 8 hours of rest.

Solution???
COMPROMISE = Respectfully Arguing= one night for you, one night for me.
And a lot of patience.
The only Alternative is staying Single.

No Solution is better or worse, cultural and religious beliefs are the main motivators in living’ status.
The general stereotype is still the Family as in Marriage.
All religions support Marriage in Family. 
Many young people support cohabitation, recently.

Avoiding judgement is paramount in the topic.
Giving advice is always a wise move.




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