Thunderstorms

    Every summer, we all get thunderstorms. No matter where you live in the US you will have some thunderstorms. As a child, I was scared to death of thunderstorms. I didn't overcome my fear until the summer between 9th and 10th grade. Part of the reason may have been sensory issues, but the other part was that I was finally diagnosed and being treated for an anxiety disorder. Most people that have asperger syndrome have other mental health issues, but they go undiagnosed because they can be part of the set of characteristics of autism.

    Right now we are just getting out of a huge thunderstorm which did include hail. I have only ever been in a hail storm one other time in my life. That was when I was still scared of thunderstorms in general. Today was different though. Today I wasn't scare of the thunderstorm, but I have been anxious about school starting and a bunch of other stuff. I was just adjusting to moving back home after living in an apartment for a week. The hail overwhelmed me.

     Sadly the characteristics that I displayed today are very uncommon for me as I normally know how to cope with the stuff I am overwhelmed by. That may be because I know the things that bother me, but hail is something new. Hail is a sound I hate. I got so overwhelmed that I started walking/running back and forth from the far end of my kitchen to the television room. For those that have never been to my house is quite a distance. I don't live in a small house by any means.

     My dad also came home today from scouts. I was in the middle of my self stimulating behaviors when my dad walked in. He was quite alarmed by my behaviors because I was not only running, but I was also covering my ears and repetitively clapping trying to calm myself. My mom suggest that I go get my ipod and listen to music. Guess what? My ipod is dead because I haven't been home for a week where I could use a charger. I ended up using my moms ipod and I am still listening to it. It really calmed  me down.

    I think from the experience I had today, I have learned new coping tools such as using my ipod. If I am just anxious, sometimes it can be too much listening to music, but today it zoned something else out and it actually helped. These are just some of the everyday struggles that people with aspergers have. You can be fine for sometime and then autism comes to bite you in the butt and remind you that you have it still.