Have you accomplished what you never thought you could?

[smileeachday]

Just a general question, Have you guys accomplished what you guys thought you never could?



I have many times... but i just wondered how many others have or havn't

 

[Suzanne]

I guess moving to France and being able to at least, speak a little French, is something I would never have dreamed of achieving, due to my back ground education of: too stupid to pass exams, sort of attitude teachers had of me.

And marriage: Never dreamed any man would see me good enough to be his wife and yet, here I am, a married woman. 24 years now!

 

[Thaddeus]

Nope. :/

 

[NiceCupOfTea]

No, not really.....

 

[Beverly]

Yes, as a child and teen and, especially after my stage fright freeze while playing the lead for the school play, I never thought I could perform on stage. I wanted to when I was a kid but, never thought I could actually do it. I did,a bit of good luck got me with my first band, a lot of hard work took me the rest of the way. Now being on stage is old hat, boring really until the audience gets into it and, the energy really gets going in the venue. As a HS senior, I would never have dreamed I could be on the stage and, find it so mundane, so natural.

 

[4gottenLoreKali]

A couple months ago during one of my appointments with my therapist he told me something to the effect of this: "If someone were to ask me 10 years ago if [patient's real name] was going to attend college, I would say it's a nice thought, but probably unlikely. I'm pleasantly surprised by the progress you've made."

This was telling, not just about my growth, but also about his low expectations of me when I was a kid.

 

[Nitro]

No,I amaze those who think I can't when I prove them wrong.

 

[Harrison]

I have accomplished many things that others said I couldn't do. My whole life has been a testament to that.

 

[SignOfLazarus]

There is so little I think I can not accomplish actually- and those very few assessments are fairly realistic for myself. I continue to surprise other people... way more rare an occurrence to surprise myself in what I can do. I am aware of my capabilities and I have my mother's tenacity.
It happens, I'm human, but can't think of a specific example right now.

I have to admit, sometimes it's nice to do/accomplish something and then turn toward unsupportive parties: "Hey, isn't this great?"

 

[Slithytoves]

I've never assumed that I probably couldn't do something; not because of what turns out to be my Asperger's, anyway. Since the conventional way of operating isn't my strong suit, I've developed a balls-out, go-for-it attitude towards a lot of things many people, autistic or NT, would have serious reservations about. It's taken me places I never imagined. Not that I didn't think they weren't possible to get to; I just didn't have reason to think of going there at all. It's made me appreciate the thrill of the unknown a lot more, that's for sure.

There are Aspies with genuine limitations to some possibilities, and I empathize with them. I find the "There's no such thing as 'can't'" mentality a little unrealistic when I consider the range of severity among people on the spectrum. I do have a mantra of "You should give it a shot if you think it would be cool/useful," though. You won't know if you can surprise yourself if you aren't willing to push what you feel are your boundaries. I've found nifty little holes in my own, just by actively looking for them.

 

[On the Inside]

A few times. I have a variation on Slithy's mantra: "It's worth a try, but don't hang on to it too long if it doesn't work out." I'm not one to say "there is no such thing as can't".

That comes from experience with a lot of trial and error. There are a lot of things I tried and was unable to do, for some reason or another. I'm still learning about my limitations and know my strengths well. But I know you can't keep doing the same old song and dance.

 

[tree]

I memorized the first 100 digits of Pi.

I studied them while I was walking.
I carried them with me on a card.

It was interesting to see the colors of the digits,
when I recited them. 3 = green, 4 = blue, 5 = red.....
I have some synesthesia.

 

[FreeDiver]

When I was 8 years old, I got into the sport of freediving and had been doing it until I was 16, then quit because my parents move to a new place and I had no more access to the lake anymore. At that time, I could do a breath hold of about 2:30 max and believed that it was imposable to go longer. After I had learned I has aspergers at 41. I took up the sport again after reading about Temple Grandin's Hug machine and remembering how good it felt to dive deep down(ICYW: the deeper you dive, the greater the water pressure is in your body.). Anyways. I got on the internet and would talk to other fellow freediver around the world and talk to them about how to improve my game. After about 6 month of getting back into it again. I was now able to hold my breath for over 5:30, which is more then double of what I believe was even possible back then.

 

[ancusmitis]

My self-concept tends to oscillate, so at one time there will any thing that I think I can do while other times I feel like I can't do anything.

 

[hiraeth]

Well, before I turned 18, I was convinced that I wouldn't live to see my 18th birthday. But I did. I didn't end up living on the street addicted to hard drugs, or locked up in an institution. I got a job. I got a work visa. I never got fired and deported. Sometimes, in passing, it still feels unbelievably surreal. I suppose I just have high expectations for myself, and I'm so caught up in the "refusing to let my past define me", that it ends up looking like I'm doing the opposite because I keep pretending the glass ceiling isn't there and slamming my head into it on the way up.

 

[umbrellabeach]

Every time I have a bout of bad anxiety it feels like I'll never overcome it. But I always do. I'm much stronger, more resilient, and more able to control it than I was about three years ago. This gives me a lot of hope for my future, as things have recently been setting up in a way that I sense more triggers coming soon.
Also reaching my Swagbucks goal some days. It can be hard if I'm not lucky enough for a survey or special offer. But I've reached it every day since October 1st last year.

 

[Warmheart]

It took until I was 12 before I could tie my shoes on my own, but I did it!

I never thought there would be a way for me to manage PTSD flashbacks, but I did when I applied myself to T'ai chi.

Though often "in my own world," I was a deeply connected, very emotionally supportive, warmly nurturing wife to my late hubby.

I am not yet able to use a knife & fork together to cut food, but I'm working hard in OT!

To enhance my annoyance factor, I have completely mastered the waxpaper-n-comb kazoo!

What else will I accomplish? Stay tuned....

 

[ExplosiveTMT]

There have been many times when I never thought that I would work up the courage to try a thing that scared me...
whether that be making new friends, going to a friend's party, doing drama classes, getting injections done (afraid of needles, I am. ) or that time in my childhood when I went on a five day camp, and so on...

In many of these cases, my mum or teachers at school would set up emergency plans just in case things overwhelmed me (in the case of the needle injections, I had no emergency plan option; but I took my teddy bear into the hospital with me. ) Typically these plans involved setting up a place that was nice and quiet for me to go to recover.

Ehen I look back on many of the things I've tried, I can't think of any times when an emergency plan had to be put into use, or I ended up having a tragic meltdown
With every scary new thing I've come to do, there was definitely anxiety, maybe some near-soiling of my pants in the days/weeks leading up to the thing, but when it came time to try the thing, I went in, did it, and came out ok at the end of it.
And that brings me to the biggest thing I never thought I could do: adapt.

 

[Suzanne]

Just to add! When I was in college ( another amazing achievement for me), at 22, I found myself in a situation that filled me with such horror that, in the end I actually flew from the scene! As a part of our assignment, we each had to do a presentation on a chosen subject. You see, in school, because it was designed for "stupid" people, we were "taught" just the rudiments of subjects and thus, I had tiny bits of knowledge but not enough! When I received my first results for course work ( that was new to me as well) I had to ask what B- was!

Well, I digress! I chose the Victorian era because I was obsessed with it, but no matter what I tried to do, I could not think how to put it into a presentation and unfortunately, when it came to the time and it was my go, I got up in tears and literally ran from the class room and sadly, hurt my teacher into the bargain; not seriously, but did cause bruising to her arm, but she did not hold it against me. I had not even heard of aspergers at that point!

Zip forward, to me at 45 and last night, I helped an elder ( priest) with a presentation. Next month, I have my 4th talk and am, what we call: a householder. Another sister ( spiritual) has a talk and I am her aid. I am also one for my husband. I discovered that I ENJOY giving talks and this one is based on the Hebrew scriptures. I get to chose my scene and so, have had enormous fun. I discover I love being an actress lol

 

[watersprite]

Yes, partly by luck or grace, partly by grim determination and a willingness to leap.