Author Archives: spectrumcontender

Life is busy. There is the puppy to train, work to go to, volunteering to do. There is also the self care and the ‘days off’ to recharge. I saw my psychologist yesterday. She says I am doing well. She pointed out that I am starting to plan for a future again. I am feelingContinue reading “On The Upswing”

I’m still not sure who is getting trained, us or the puppy. She can sit, will stay for a little bit and will come if she is interested. She still puddles on the floor but she seems to be asking to go out but we aren’t recognising the signs until after the fact and thenContinue reading “Puppy Training”

We had been thinking about getting a puppy for a while now. Our daughter has two and we love them when they come and visit. The pandemic has driven puppy prices up as people wanted a companion in lockdown. The latest round of border closures meant some people could not collect their puppies that wereContinue reading “We Got a Puppy”

Last week I saw my psychologist. it was a good, productive session. She gave me two bits of homework to work on before my next session (next February). The first is to to try to talk myself down from a meltdown. The context is me telling her that I had a meltdown when I couldn’tContinue reading “Homework from my Psychologist”

So many mornings I have woken with the best of intentions and ‘write something on my blog’ on my to do list. So many days I haven’t written (obviously). Life has gotten busy. I have a job, part time casual, the hours vary and I am learning to live with that. The facebook group forContinue reading “Travelling at The Speed of Life”

What difference does a diagnosis make? There is no magic cure. Autism does not go away. For me, a diagnosis has made the world of difference. I am finding my tribe. A group of people that experience the world in a very similar way to me. Who have very similar struggles. The fact that otherContinue reading “The Benefits of Validation”

I’m not a drinker, I could count one one hand the number of times I have been truly drunk. I am a cheap drunk, probably because I drink so infrequently. I don’t need to drink to feel like I am drunk, not quite staggering but definitely walking into things, speech slightly slurred, can’t think ofContinue reading “Drunk Days”

This says so much about me and some of my baggage. As I said in my last post, my mentor and I have started a facebook group for local autistic adults. We are going well. We have over 30 members, the group has agreed on what we need for rules and I have posted those.Continue reading “Waiting for the Other Shoe To Drop”

It’s interesting when you pick a name for a post based on what you think it means and then when you google it to check the spelling you discover it is so much more. I picked the doldrums because I knew it was an area around the equator where sailors would often become becalmed dueContinue reading “Escaping the Doldrums”

Even though I have only been officially autistic a very short time I am more then happy with the label. I consider myself out and proud. Happy to be it, tell people I am it, wave the flag and celebrate. But there are days when I still don’t know who I am. There are thingsContinue reading “Learning to be Me Again”