An event at work, that made me think and dig...

[Chance]

We are doing lots of year end very boring useless paperwork and reports that no one is going to read which I recently proved publicly at work... I do this from time to time.

I had reports sent out for inspection and approval so they could be posted and filed by the office ladies... I purposely put the wrong dates on them just to see if any of the 8 people would catch this mistake as they "proofed" them... Not one person caught it and I had it in BOLD letters just for the fun of it...

Well today we were doing stuff and they were asking me when did we do this? Or when was that meeting? I just told them and they kept asking questions on dates, then it moved to what people were driving and I knew something was up, so I called them on it and asked what they were doing?

The ladies said we are betting on which questions you get right or wrong... I sort of looked at them and said why would you do that? And one lady said because I can bet my life on if you will have a date right, a phone number right, time right, a calculation, or a car someone is driving. She said, "You are so "hyper aware" on certain things and yet other things its like they don't even exist... "

So I googled hyper awareness, and I found lots of stuff that I had never looked into.

I found this article and some of the links super interesting and it actually explains a lot about stuff I never really discuss with people.

The Strengths of Autism - Hyper Awareness

 

[Mia]

From your link Chance, I found this Sensory Processing Disorders Checklist, because the actual checklist hotlink didn't work, so I looked around:::

I scored 12/15.

Imagine all the interference we deal with just to do things.

Adolescent/Adult: 

1. I am over-sensitive to environmental stimulation: I do not like being touched. 

2. I avoid visually stimulating environments and/or I am sensitive to sounds.

3. I often feel lethargic and slow in starting my day.

4. I often begin new tasks simultaneously and leave many of them uncompleted.

5. I use an inappropriate amount of force when handling objects.

6. I often bump into things or develop bruises that I cannot recall. 

7. I have difficulty learning new motor tasks, or sequencing steps of a task.

8. I need physical activities to help me maintain my focus throughout the day.

9. I have difficulty staying focused at work and in meetings.

10. I misinterpret questions and requests, requiring more clarification than usual.

11. I have difficulty reading, especially aloud.

12. My speech lacks fluency, I stumble over words.

13. I must read material several times to absorb the content.
14. I have trouble forming thoughts and ideas in oral presentations.
15. I have trouble thinking up ideas for essays or written tasks at school.

Symptoms Checklist

 

[Chance]

From your link Chance, I found this Sensory Processing Disorders Checklist, because the actual checklist hotlink didn't work, so I looked around:::

I scored 12/15.

Imagine all the interference we deal with just to do things.

Adolescent/Adult: 

1. I am over-sensitive to environmental stimulation: I do not like being touched. 

2. I avoid visually stimulating environments and/or I am sensitive to sounds.

3. I often feel lethargic and slow in starting my day.

4. I often begin new tasks simultaneously and leave many of them uncompleted.

5. I use an inappropriate amount of force when handling objects.

6. I often bump into things or develop bruises that I cannot recall. 

7. I have difficulty learning new motor tasks, or sequencing steps of a task.

8. I need physical activities to help me maintain my focus throughout the day.

9. I have difficulty staying focused at work and in meetings.

10. I misinterpret questions and requests, requiring more clarification than usual.

11. I have difficulty reading, especially aloud.

12. My speech lacks fluency, I stumble over words.

13. I must read material several times to absorb the content.
14. I have trouble forming thoughts and ideas in oral presentations.
15. I have trouble thinking up ideas for essays or written tasks at school.

Symptoms Checklist

Same for me... so it is one of those weird overlaps where i get lost

Is this ASD? Is SPD ASD? Is OCD ASD?
I tend to get lost in what is what... I know it shouldn’t even matter, but its always part of who I am.

I’m not into labels, but for some crazy reason i need to understand them and how they tie together... which might also be hyper awareness... : )

 

[Chance]

For some stupid reason I feel I need to explain myself...

Its not about what is what, or the labels, or even the overlaps... Maybe all that together is what drives me into these digging modes to try so hard to understand what other people may not even give a second thought.

In all truth, I dig for the roots of stuff... Be it what I just posted about, or a belief, or a groups agenda, a math problem, a cost assessment, etc. I need to know the core of how things operate (or how they make me operate)...

In that there might, or might not be, some tiny answer that helps me move forward to become better able to communicate, to not have these huge noticeable gaps in how I think... That today was proven exists...

Today with what the ladies were saying (and being kind about it)... I saw a picture I have made in how they see how I think... I saw cool things, but I saw huge gaps where I don't even notice some things at all. What if the stuff I'm not noticing or acknowledging is holding some of those tiny pieces that are missing in my life? How do I become more aware or attentive to stuff I cant even notice that I don't notice?

For instance peoples names... They tell me their name and I often nearly instantly forget it, sometimes its like I never heard them say it... Same with facial recognition... I try and think of some people and its just a blurry blank. Sure I might remember a wooly beard, a man bun, a lady with pink hair, a lady with black fingernails, or something bold, and thats not said to be rude... It takes that much to get my attention I guess. I "might" remember this persons name, or their face enough to remember them the next time I see them... (as long as they haven't changed how they look)

I am noticing my own lacking of paying attention in some areas and dwelling on things in another.
A person can give me their phone number and I might remember that phone number a year later, but cant even put a face to it... Its sad really. Its a sad waste of resources that I need to use in other places.

The gap in my thinking is huge and noticeable and in that gap is where all the short circuiting takes place. In that gap is where the ADD is, the OCD is, the ASD is, the SPD is, the noticing a body twitch that scares me, or sensing an energy or a feeling that doesn't make sense to me, or a thousand other tiny things that turn into anxiety, or unexplained panic, or maybe even depression...

Maybe in all this is a want so bad to be "normal" or feel "normal" but not possibly being able to achieve it for very long without running out of mental or physical energy.

I just wish sometimes I wasn't noticeably so different in how i think and act, but in some of it, I wouldn't know how I could possibly change it. I cant help that I have hyper hearing, hyper smell, too many "gut feelings" and tons of other road blocks that seem to keep me in weird ville.

I upset myself worse than most other people upset me. Its like I KNOW I can be better and I try and I prove myself wrong... Its tiring and its sobering.

 

[Streetwise]

For some stupid reason I feel I need to explain myself...

Its not about what is what, or the labels, or even the overlaps... Maybe all that together is what drives me into these digging modes to try so hard to understand what other people may not even give a second thought.

In all truth, I dig for the roots of stuff... Be it what I just posted about, or a belief, or a groups agenda, a math problem, a cost assessment, etc. I need to know the core of how things operate (or how they make me operate)...

In that there might, or might not be, some tiny answer that helps me move forward to become better able to communicate, to not have these huge noticeable gaps in how I think... That today was proven exists...

Today with what the ladies were saying (and being kind about it)... I saw a picture I have made in how they see how I think... I saw cool things, but I saw huge gaps where I don't even notice some things at all. What if the stuff I'm not noticing or acknowledging is holding some of those tiny pieces that are missing in my life? How do I become more aware or attentive to stuff I cant even notice that I don't notice?

For instance peoples names... They tell me their name and I often nearly instantly forget it, sometimes its like I never heard them say it... Same with facial recognition... I try and think of some people and its just a blurry blank. Sure I might remember a wooly beard, a man bun, a lady with pink hair, a lady with black fingernails, or something bold, and thats not said to be rude... It takes that much to get my attention I guess. I "might" remember this persons name, or their face enough to remember them the next time I see them... (as long as they haven't changed how they look)

I am noticing my own lacking of paying attention in some areas and dwelling on things in another.
A person can give me their phone number and I might remember that phone number a year later, but cant even put a face to it... Its sad really. Its a sad waste of resources that I need to use in other places.

The gap in my thinking is huge and noticeable and in that gap is where all the short circuiting takes place. In that gap is where the ADD is, the OCD is, the ASD is, the SPD is, the noticing a body twitch that scares me, or sensing an energy or a feeling that doesn't make sense to me, or a thousand other tiny things that turn into anxiety, or unexplained panic, or maybe even depression...

Maybe in all this is a want so bad to be "normal" or feel "normal" but not possibly being able to achieve it for very long without running out of mental or physical energy.

I just wish sometimes I wasn't noticeably so different in how i think and act, but in some of it, I wouldn't know how I could possibly change it. I cant help that I have hyper hearing, hyper smell, too many "gut feelings" and tons of other road blocks that seem to keep me in weird ville.

I upset myself worse than most other people upset me. Its like I KNOW I can be better and I try and I prove myself wrong... Its tiring and its sobering.

I've said it before if you want to make a memory make a ridiculous image whatever the word is make it ridiculous for instance if I want to post a letter I think of the postbox carrying the letter

 

[SusanLR]

In all truth, I dig for the roots of stuff... Be it what I just posted about, or a belief, or a groups agenda, a math problem, a cost assessment, etc. I need to know the core of how things operate (or how they make me operate)...

Same with me.
I have this need to know and understand.
Everything I possibly can.
I've always just accepted that is ME and my mind is super inquisitive. It's like obsessive in that manner.
Always digging deeper.

Yet the other things you mentioned like someone's name goes right over my head. Couldn't tell you two minutes later who they said they were.
Same with visual recognition.

I was taught in acting class to repeat the name out loud back to the person and it will help you remember it.
Like: " Glad to meet you, Greg."

I don't know, but, I feel that for me on these two things and probably some others, it is a matter of how important it is to me.
If it's one of those I've got to know moments.
I remember.
When it comes to meeting strangers or someone giving their name on the phone such as an agent for some sort of business, it doesn't matter that much.
At least not at that moment. It may later if it becomes something important.

Same with faces.
I've often said, how do you remember faces when you don't look them in the eyes?
In just meeting someone casually this is true for me.
If the meeting is of import then I have better luck at remembering the face.

 

[Streetwise]

For some stupid reason I feel I need to explain myself...

Its not about what is what, or the labels, or even the overlaps... Maybe all that together is what drives me into these digging modes to try so hard to understand what other people may not even give a second thought.

In all truth, I dig for the roots of stuff... Be it what I just posted about, or a belief, or a groups agenda, a math problem, a cost assessment, etc. I need to know the core of how things operate (or how they make me operate)...

In that there might, or might not be, some tiny answer that helps me move forward to become better able to communicate, to not have these huge noticeable gaps in how I think... That today was proven exists...

Today with what the ladies were saying (and being kind about it)... I saw a picture I have made in how they see how I think... I saw cool things, but I saw huge gaps where I don't even notice some things at all. What if the stuff I'm not noticing or acknowledging is holding some of those tiny pieces that are missing in my life? How do I become more aware or attentive to stuff I cant even notice that I don't notice?

For instance peoples names... They tell me their name and I often nearly instantly forget it, sometimes its like I never heard them say it... Same with facial recognition... I try and think of some people and its just a blurry blank. Sure I might remember a wooly beard, a man bun, a lady with pink hair, a lady with black fingernails, or something bold, and thats not said to be rude... It takes that much to get my attention I guess. I "might" remember this persons name, or their face enough to remember them the next time I see them... (as long as they haven't changed how they look)

I am noticing my own lacking of paying attention in some areas and dwelling on things in another.
A person can give me their phone number and I might remember that phone number a year later, but cant even put a face to it... Its sad really. Its a sad waste of resources that I need to use in other places.

The gap in my thinking is huge and noticeable and in that gap is where all the short circuiting takes place. In that gap is where the ADD is, the OCD is, the ASD is, the SPD is, the noticing a body twitch that scares me, or sensing an energy or a feeling that doesn't make sense to me, or a thousand other tiny things that turn into anxiety, or unexplained panic, or maybe even depression...

Maybe in all this is a want so bad to be "normal" or feel "normal" but not possibly being able to achieve it for very long without running out of mental or physical energy.

I just wish sometimes I wasn't noticeably so different in how i think and act, but in some of it, I wouldn't know how I could possibly change it. I cant help that I have hyper hearing, hyper smell, too many "gut feelings" and tons of other road blocks that seem to keep me in weird ville.

I upset myself worse than most other people upset me. Its like I KNOW I can be better and I try and I prove myself wrong... Its tiring and its sobering.

No it's because you're stressed when you're stressed your body diverts energy away from deeper thought and diverts it to survival thinking and to your heart and lungs and legs so you can run if you need to as it gets the message that you're not threatened the blood will return to those other areas as my body did now for a second when the cat came in.
Also if you have a disorder like social anxiety or panic or borderline personality you will suffer from dementia!not Alzheimer's disease! just lack of vitamin b ( related dementia )!which can be cured by adequate vitamin b .

 

[LucyPurrs]

I never remember names, sometimes cannot recall faces, and forget both if years have gone by without any contact. I have found lovely inscriptions in some of my books and can't, for the life of me, remember who the person was........ makes me feel awful. So you are not alone in these things.........