Friday 16 December 2022

Autism and Christmas


Hey readers,

In this post I want to talk about how Christmas affects me in relation to my autism.

 I am not very good with changes and I always see Christmas as a massive change. It doesent matter whehter it is  good or bad it is still change and something that I have to deal with every year, well until I am dead of course.



Now don’t get me wrong some elements of Christmas I enjoy such as seeing how special Christmas is for chrildren.

 I do love seeing how my children are happy although my eldest as he is getting older and has autism is starting to struggles as well more and more. 

I like Christmas day when going for a walk when it is eerie dead I enjoy; it seems not real as where I live am a city. 

Living in a city means it is always busy but on Christmas day it is silent or very, very, very quiet. which I am not going to moan because I actually enjoy it.

One area of Christmas I struggle with is gift opening as I get sensory overload, after presents are handed out I feel sick because it is something that I am not used to. As it is new I have to look at things in great detail and that is mentally exhausting for me.

One thing that is difficult is change to my routine because everything seems unusual during the festive period. 

However, to help deal with sticking to some routine and change I use a diary to write down what is happening.  I also do a relaxed schedule on Christmas day just to help me keep calm. 

I struggle with having nothing happening so I make sure I schedule stuff in such as giving my boys a bath or going to the park/walk. The last one helps me because I get fresh air and clears my head of so much disruption with toys etc. everywhere.

Another thing I am not very good at is people coming round unannounced. As my husband just casual about these kind of things and says to people he knows just pop round. 

I don’t want to be a pain and appreciate he has social needs just as much as my own needs. So, he can have social gatherings, I do stay for a period but sometimes I need some time alone because it gets chaotic. 

This also helps my autistic son; he normally comes with me for some time out on the bed in the dark, which for me with fewer stimuli around gives my brain a break.

Over the years when it comes to Christmas decorations me and my husband has come to an agreement where my bedroom has no ceiling decorations.

 I don’t like ceiling decorations they make me feel  claustrophobic so as long as I have a safe space which is my bedroom where I go when I need a break that is what works for us in my home. 

My autistic son loves the ceiling decorations so just shows you that autism affects people in different ways. 

I always have vivid memories of being a child and hating those ceiling decorations and now it makes total sense for how I felt which at the time when I didn’t know about autism it was difficult to get my head around.

Cheers for reading X

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