I think the difference between inertia and the lack of activity caused by depression, is that depression prevents you from beginning or continuing tasks, whereas inertia prevents you from beginning or *stopping* a task. Whereas depression leads to a tendency towards inactivity, inertia leads to a tendency towards doing whatever it is you're currently doing. Which may be nothing. Both can lead to an inability to perform tasks that you consciously want to do and would bring you joy.
This is My autism talking here, so... Inertia is the apt word for Both, as inertia is a describes the force or lack thereof. Depression may be one of many reasons for a lack of positive inertia, while inertia itself is not a 'cause' for positive, neutral or negative state of action. At rest being neutral inertia, active being positive inertia and reduced/reductive being negative inertia. Each 'state' of inertia may have many factors individually or in combination as their cause. Again, I don't mean to be contrary or argumentative, only to explain what MY autistic brain considers the delineation to be. But I am open to new interpretations as well, everyone experiences and responds to the world in their own unique ways, despite us all being simple fleshy people sharing this diverse world.😅
@@brainwithani5693 Yes I am the same, when I stop I can't get motivated, then when I start I'm talking about going to the gym I can't stop I go every 12 hours until I'm exhausted.
There have been studies connecting autism and low brain plasticity, the ability for neurons to establish new connections and change networks. Our brains literally get 'stuck' on things. I think of it as difficulty changing gears. Go, neutral and reverse. depression is reverse, I get stuck in it often, and it takes effort to pull out of that. That inertia can also lead to physiological damage. I can get so into things, unable to stop, I would neglect proper nutrition for weeks on end. Extended hyperfocus while using a computer can lead to repetitive strain and carpal over the years. Perhaps a better analogy than gears is gravity wells, there can be multiple gravity wells pulling at each other, depresion, special interests, sensory overload, demands from the world. I have found it best to navigate with smooth, 'orbital' paths. Sudden transitions of demands can stress that low neurological plasticity. But more self-planned, smooth transitions can aid in overcoming the gravity well(inertia) when navigating life.
Yeah. I had a pretty bad depression period last year and I know for sure that, when it's autistic inertia I struggle starting something because of how many steps and/or sensory input the activity is goanna take, but I enjoy it as soon as I start or feel good about myself when I'm finished. When it's depression I don't feel any good felling by doing or finishing a task, even if it's something I used to like, like a hobbie, it just doesn't help at all w/ my mood. That's the difference for me I guess
The inertia thing is so true. Not simply from a lazy, unmotivated standpoint, but from the opposite perspective. There is nothing that causes me more stress than being interrupted while I’m doing a task. I have my flow going, then I get asked to stop and do something else. It will throw me off entirely. If that happens I find it extremely difficult to return to the task I was working on, or to do any other task.
I'm like this when having a conversation. If the person I am talking to interupts me without allowing me to explain myself it interupts my flow and then I find it hard to keep going with what I was saying.
lazy people dont feel bad about not doing what they should . they enjoy it . if you are not enjoying being inactive do not call it lazyness . it is verry bad for people that got diagnosed late and are trying to unmask and stop calling themselves lazy or weird etc .
@@bennettcain635 yep . most of the time i feel like the most annoying symptom of neurodivergence is neurotypicals and their refusal to try and understand us .
Whrn I was working full time in a school I had CONSTANT interruption, My little trick was to work on a task for abt 5-10 min put it away and "do nothing" for 3-5 min (depending) b/c usually during the time I was doing "nothing" the phone would ring or a child would come into my office or the principal would come in and want to talk abt something important. I also had gotten used to the flow of energy after a while so like in the morning from 8am until 10am I "did nothing" b/c students were arriving, parents wanted to talk, deliveries came in, etc. Then 10 am-11am it was quiet so I rotated through 3 tasks that I wanted to complete that day in 5 minute chunks. I would only do at max 3 tasks a day that were out of the regular routine and other than that I was doing my routine task such as checking email (we were always getting bimbarded from NYSED and the district) and working on attendance for that day (calling families when a child was absent) I got pretty good at it but eventually I had to retire b/c I have glaucoma and needed eye surgery or I would go blind.
I totally lost it at my last job - I was doing 20 hours for the accounting, 20 hours for the marketing department - two completely different kinds of work. I kept telling people, mornings accounting (counting money, excel sheets, working with forms), afternoons marketing (reading and writing reports). I use schedules and to-do lists all the time. But people would insist on bothering me at the wrong times!!! I'd completely lose it when someone would demand a payment in the afternoon or a report in the morning. I felt like a small child, about to throw a huge tantrum, it was so difficult to stay calm and 'adult' about it. Then they'd call me 'you are not flexible enough'!!!! After about 3 years, I really lost it, was burnt out, severely depressed and then physically I became sick. I haven't worked since. I now see that I was not only dealing with work place stress but also fighting autistic inertia - feeling lazy, while knowing I was not a lazy person.
I feel this so much. When I was working in a fast paced fast food environment they'd often ask me to switch the job I was doing depending on who else was there and I hated that. I liked doing just whatever task I was doing consistently. It's why, even though I had to talk to people, I enjoyed taking orders the most because I would usually do that the whole day and didn't have to do a bunch of different things
I suffered Autistic Burn-out (After a colossal breakdown leading to shutdown) at 18 and never recovered, however, at 21 (I'm 29), I developped a bunch more neurological problems which completely kicked my autism into overdrive and resulted in me being paralysed like described. I lost my job, my friends, so on. I was placed on a bunch of drugs (Which some do help after much trial and error). Ever since then, I've been unable to do anything to take care of my physical health and wellbeing. It seems that this video has described what I have been dealing with for the past 8-11 years now. Whats refreshing is that i've tried doing the things he's said and they do help, but then life happens and throws your newly established routine out of the window and boom, back to square one. Happenning with smoking, getting my solo career off the ground hygiene. If you don't know how to manage it, it really constumes your entire life and rips things apart (along with anything else life throws out you.) Thank you to Orion for showing us this and then thank you and good luck you lovely people for being so supportive of one another. xxxxx
@@ahedch Well mate, the problem which I developed was called "Psychosis" and a mixture of "Respiridone" + "Floxitine" + "Pregabilen" has helped keep me even with my psychosis. I can't advise the Respiridone since it's a anti-psychotic however the other two may help you with anxiety and low mood. PRegabilen is a control drug in the UK so its hard to get but it does help with the depression and anxiety a lot. Which helps battle the Psychosis and keeps the autism calmer. I hope this helps. I've probably mispelt the names but if you google them, they may help. Fluoxitine is a anti-anxiety drug and the pregabilin is a anti depression / anti anxiety too. Hope this helps bro xxxxx
I am on the way to 42 years, but it feels like i am already 80 or 90 years on this planet and this inertia thing seems to have more impact the older i get. For me, the transition from "Rest" to "Active" is as hard, as going from "Active" to "Rest" and it doesn´t matter if they are things that have to be done or i enjoy.
Thank you for speaking about these topics. It makes me feel more understanding about myself instead of just feeling bad under the lazy, loner, unproductive labels that people put on me.
What gets me with healthcare professionals is the fact what's going on with you is like some kinda secret nobody should ever know mentally and physically probably more so physically try seeing a shrink in uk without having to pay for it good f ing luck it cost me 2500£ for duel diagnosis something that should have been diagnosed a long time ago btw i was 41 when i got a diagnosis. Ridiculously too late.
@@stephenlamley541 I moved to the UK 2years ago and now have opportunity to be diagnosed since I did not have insurance in America. It felt validating to score 10 out of 10 on the AQ 10 and to be put on a waiting list for autism assessment even if it is 4 years. I could not have done that in America for free.
@His Poiema we (I and my autistic son) live in an area of America where it is rare to find any type of professional that has any knowledge of autism beyond the fact that it exists. Yet we do have a regional health center that is responsible for diagnosing and helping/educating adult autists. I believe they will evaluate and diagnose for free or at least on a sliding scale. Also, the schools have to provide an evaluation/diagnosis of their own (with the district psychologist) if they are requested to as part of an Individual Education Plan (IEP). That is 100% free. Depending on how busy the psychologist is, this evaluation will be done in a couple of months. So there is ways to find out even if you don't have insurance. The problem is really that the awareness is not there. My son born in 2000 received early intervention speech therapy because his speech onset was delayed. This was the first thing his doctor thought to get him help for despite the fact that I described and questioned several of his behaviors that I now know are common autism traits. I wasn't aware at the time but his pediatrician sure as heck should have known. He was finally diagnosed at 17. We have struggled since then to find help for him in learning how to deal with good, bad and tough situations that autism brings to the table, especially in the mental health sector. You think they would be the most knowledgeable but 👎. Still a sad state of affairs. So you can get it diagnosed but you cannot get any help with it.
No, see, thing is NT people have this problem as well. Same with ADD'ds. This stuff that clinicians come up with has two things in mind: 1. insurance rates 2. in patient care schedules The DSM-5 puts these two at the forefront, NOT reality (which comes third) Autism is a psy-op. ADD id a psy-op. Anxiety and Depression are psy-ops designed around kickbacks received by Big Pharma. The fact that no one sees this makes me sad!
I have this struggle with inertia, even with things I love. Socially even more so. I typically only have "one person" that I feel connected to. In my early 20's I thought it was ADHD, than I thought it was depression, more specifically, atypical depression. I can hyper focus, when life demands it, or for new and interesting things, but than the momentum just evaporates. Later in life I come to understand my extremely dysfunctional childhood, and the symptoms of trauma, and thought I have C-PTSD. Now I watch autism videos, and relate to a majority of the symptoms, and sort of have no idea what to think anymore. Is it Trauma or Autism or does it even matter what I call my issues? Saying I have insert label is starting to be lost on me. One issue is the mostly fake society we live in. Not being able to fit in isn't good (lonely) but neither is being a "bad actor" which so many appear to be, especially in positions of power. Capitalism demands you play a role of some kind, usually a very narrow, specialized one, over and over, for 40 plus hours a week. That is exhausting for someone like me, although it strikes me as odd that being able to easily do that indicates a more "ordered" healthy human. If a healthy human is defined simply by their ability to maintain inertia within a stressful system simply because that inertia is profitable, that maybe the norm but not necessarily better or healthy. Even if that inertia is productive but not profitable, than well that person who has a fun hobby still must have a disorder. Now I'm reminded of Barbara Sher, who was a career/lifestyle coach. She talks about folks who have a scanner personality. That is defined basically as those who struggle to find a singular focus in life to which my response is, who wouldn't? Even making it as a Rockstar than having to sing the same old 5 or 6 hits 1,000's of times over would become a nightmare. Scanners enjoy learning, than moving on, to more learning. So they don't typically want to spend an entire life/career practicing just one of the skills they learned, as a career. This seems more interesting and healthy for an curious, intelligent being, except within the framework of capitalism, than it's abnormal and the individual needs fixing in some manner. I'm not sure where I'm going with all this? A nap I think as I'm suddenly out of gas. Probably another symptom?
If you've experienced trauma throughout childhood there very well may be some pts going on. If it inhibits you a professional you feel comfortable talking with may be very beneficial. If you can afford it. Maybe the train was heading to whose to say which came first the NT or the ND? Capitalism is much newer than humanity and since we don't fit neatly into Capitalism we are considered ND... maybe Capitalism is a concept of NDs and really we are the NT hold overs from precapitalist genetics... anywho... Choo Choo... this train is leaving the station... and remember keep your stick on the ice, we're all in this together... props if you get that reference...
The fact that your comment is detailed &/long..is a trait. Consider maybe all 3. AuDHD is extremely common & makes a person more prone to trauma. I consider myself to have all 3. As a woman, it's a particular flavour. I find a lot of commonality with people with the same combination. Otherwise the internal conflict would have confused me for more decades. ADHD for me was the most apparent. When that was medicated, out came the rest of me.
@@Starmoonthechampion over time adhd meds provoked autistic burnout, however I think for people with ADHD it can be life changing (taming). I've tried several kinds, difficult to track but c9nclusion was, I'm sensitive to side effect &/feeling anxious.
From the moment I learned this is what society is as a little child, I DREADED becoming an adult. Now I long for the nursing home (which my generation will be priced completely out of). My family exiled me for reasons I'm not even sure of, and still struggle at almost forty to understand. Mental health professionals don't want to help me in any of the ways I actually need, not even actually test me so I can get the diagnosis and resources. I think this society depends on people like us eventually taking ourselves out of the pool, if you know what I mean. I struggle with thoughts of ending it every minute of every day
Step-based thinking is more of a challenge for me than autistic inertia. My brain likes to divide every task into smaller, more "manageable" tasks, but it'll seemingly do that to infinity: you can after all break a single task (brushing my teeth, for example) into so many tiny steps, that it makes the task seem completely overwhelming.
I struggle with step-based thinking too because making a task multiple steps doesn't take away the feeling of the whole task needing completed for me. If it's a long length of chain that's heavy to pull, I can cut it into shorter individually lighter lengths, but my brain doesn't allow them to be separated, so it goes around linking all the lengths again, replacing the cut links with much heavier shackles making the whole chain heavier to pull than it was to begin with. In those situations, all breaking it down into multiple steps does is increase the number of changes in direction needed to complete the task (where the momentum tries to push straight on and needs extra energy to to turn it). The amount of energy needed to complete it only increases as each step carries it's own momentum/inertia once started (the something will keep moving at a constant speed in straight line, or velocity, if not acted on, bit of the rule of inertia), but separating the steps just zig-zags towards the goal, making getting to the finish harder, as it takes more energy and time to wind down then wind up in the new step's direction. It could also be thought of as a train barreling down a hill and each additional step is another curve threatening to derail us. Sometimes the best solution to working with inertia is to point it to the finish and let it roll straight there, but it can be difficult to balance that with a long track to get to that point, as we need the energy to establish that momentum at the start of the track, and the further we need to go, the more momentum we need to start with to get there, because on earth there's friction with the tracks trying to stop us short of the finish.
I am 60 and autistic who wasn't diagnosed until age 44. I never heard about autistic inertia until your video. I thought it was advanced ADHD co-morbid with my autism. It's still ADHD, but tailored to autism, a basic component of it. Thanks for helping me refine my understanding.
@@smartiepancake wow you just go online and tell people with dissabilities that their symptoms are personality traits ... wow that is pure evil . youll rott for this ... this is proven by neuroscience . dopamine sensitivity is lower in nd people .. so it doesnt motivate us as much . the personality trait you just showed is way worse and you have no excuse for it
same . look up task paralysis it is similar but also reall good to know about . so that you stop judging yourself and see them as symptoms and not negative personality traits .
"If you have lost your energy from masking and being triggered, then you're clearly going to be an object at rest." You say this as I'm laying my head down at work because I'm so tired at the end of my shift and I need to be able to drive home in 20 ish minutes. And sometimes I convince myself that I don't have autism. 🤷♀️
"All the things for which my heart yearns Bring joy in ever deminishing returns" I totally get you on this one man. I have been stuck for several months now for various reasons. Cemented in one place. The struggle is real!!
OK I just left a comment about how great autistic inertia is. But I do want to mention that it has also been my downfall. I quit my job to pursue my passion. I was unable to meet any of my personal goals. It seriously threw me into a depression because I wanted to do all of these things so bad. Executive function and a mix of fear of communicating , and anxiety related to random things, overwhelm getting started on anything, OCD, and problems with integration of information and steps to make a “whole”.. (autistic people often struggle with synthesizing of information.) Ultimately these things Prevented me from achieving what I wanted most in life. But then I learned about autistic inertia, and now I am learning how to get myself moving.
I'm experiencing this RIGHT THIS SECOND. I'm so afraid I'm going to lose this tentative grasp I have in the kite tail of my dream. I've let several great opportunities pass already and I'm just stuck in cement. I'm SO SLOW. I've been learning coping strategies finally so maybe, possibly, I might get somewhere. Maybe.
Im thinking of getting a psychology degree. But like part time. Otherwise it will too much. But to do this i cant be working at the same time...im not sure yet what i will decide. I have an idea how to have income during those years. But nothing is decided at all. Having studied history and international relations im worried we might get into WW3. Im really waiting some more time.
I use my autistic inertia in a positive way. As in hyper-productivity. When I'm on a roll and I find it difficult to stop. I will not do anything but the task at hand until it's done. This weekend I built a pergola and completed my ute's clutch overhaul.
that is a road that leads to burn outs.. it led me to working in michelin starred kitchens and becoming ethical hacker in a year . but it also led me to the most terrible burn outs in my life . nearly lost it . so be careful and put your health before productivity
Wow and here I was thinking this was an ADHD issue I was struggling with and I was so proud for managing to trick myself into getting stuff done by breaking tasks down into ridiculously small tasks and rewarding myself with a new video game afterwards 😅 it's so hard to tell which condition is responsible for a certain issue when you have both (adhd and autism) 😅
For me I find addressing things from an asd perspective first helps most as for me it seems to be the soil from which my garden of alphabet soup grows... xp
@@yazmeliayzol2895 wow that is such a pretty way to describe it. I will try to remember this for when my therapist doubts the fact that I might be autistic the next time 😂
I have to credit you here. I got a job in november. Im 60 and autistic. Ive had some luck in the workplace but long term i burn out. Your videos have given me the tools to so far succeed and be offered a manager position . Thank you so much. Also timing of this video perfect. Had a stop in my tracks moment last week. Will try your suggestions.
I'm really proud of you, well done at picking on a new thing to use to refine your workplace performance. Please consider letting us know how, several months on, how you (and just from your perspective, although feel free to assess it objectively if you would like to share that too) felt your new insight has/hasn't impacted your approach and satisfaction at work. PS I really appreciate you speaking up, regardless of whether u r comfortable going public more: you rock.
I'm 43 and was diagnosed last year with autistic spectrum disorder of Sensory integration. I've had this my entire life. I did not know how to describe this inertia to others, and it has caused many problems with progressing in any career, and it has eroded family relationships. My parents & siblings have concluded that I am lazy, irresponsible, & inconsiderate and they frequently express anger and disappointment at me for being lazy and irresponsible. It has led to many fights & blowouts where I get stuck with rage-fueled rumination that doesn't ebb for at least an hour at a time. Maybe they might understand if I show them this explanation. Thanks for the video.
Unfortunately, it might be better if you don't put much hope on 1 video explaining things to problematic relatives. My experience has been that relatives who consider you lazy, inconsiderate, or irresponsible are unlikely to change their minds, even with new data relevant to you.
Inability to go to sleep, to let go enough to let myself lie down and rest, working through legally required breaks.......OR inability to actually take that first step in a task I know I can do and need to do.......your description is spot-on. Either way, it's exhausting.
I'm a software developer and when I have a task to do that I personally want to see completed then I am motivated to get it done no matter what hurdles I encounter. This motivation can sometimes even go beyond my mental exhaustion as I don't want to stop until it's done no matter what impact it has on me mentally. However, if I'm given a task to do that I personally don't want it to be done at all then my motivation is a struggle. This is when it feels like I'm walking in thick mud and everything is exhausting. My ideal solution is for it to be given to someone else as sometimes being given something to do that I don't think should be done at all feels like I'm being personally forced to do it or even punished. This all happened before I was diagnosed as autistic and it was the beginning of the journey where I realised things are more different between me and everyone else than I first thought.
I'm the same way. The problem now is that almost everything is pointless. When I enjoy a task, certainly I will do it no matter what. But few things in life currently makes me feel it deserves my energy and dedication. I can't do even for myself, because I feel it doesn't worth a pity. 😮
Yesterday I frustrated cleaned my flat. I hadn't been functioning properly for months. I was today years old when I found out about this. This explains so much. This is why we need more services for adults with autism so we can figure this out. We shouldn't have to be relying on people like yourself for answers. The system is broken tge second younturn 18.
if you have adhd there is nothing but multitasking .. no illusion there . people with adhd cannot do single task we are allways multitasking even during meditation etc
Thank you so much for this description. This is a part of my autism that is the debilitating is autistic inertia. It is so much a double edge sword for me. But at the same time, I’m thankful for it because it is the one of the main things that finally took me in to get my diagnosis. Not to mention when I AM in motion this is the part where it is easy to call it a “super power”. For me my favorite moments in life is when I’m alone doing my special interest where is my inertia just all systems go. To be honest, my inertia is kind of what gives my life meaning. I kinda live for the positive side of it.
I am 54 and was only diagnosed autistic a couple of years ago. I've watched a few of your videos now, Orion, and some ring true more so than others. I have to say this one (along with the meltdown one) rings truest of all for me, and that the inertia just gets worse and worse as I get older. There are no end of things I want to do/need to do and I spend most of my time doing nothing or playing an online scrabble game. Strategies are what I need, I'm sure.
i have always felt crazy because i experience this exact thing. it is so frustrating. it has negatively impacted my entire life. i have always tried to explain this to the people around me & have never had the words that make them understand. i always connected it to autism but nobody seems to nail it on the head like you did. thank you for these strategies! i will definitely be using them :)
I 100% am now self diagnosing autism as a comorbidity with the diagnosed ADHD I have. You're videos have been immensely helpful in trying to figure myself out as a burned out adult! The autistic inertia combined with 253 ADHD hobbies is a living hell....I thought I was either depressed or lazy. 😮
Welcome to the club. There's a female AuDHD TH-cam like Orion (Yo Samdy Sam) helped me see it in myself. Autism is under studied &/missed so much in females or AFAB. Th8s video was fab Orion.
Absolutely. I never knew there was such a thing. What a relief. I beat myself up for being lazy. And I'm constantly struggling with this in the office, I have a new supervisor who is on me all day...she's making my life miserable. I can't live up to her expectations it seems. When she asks me why did this take so long, or what were you thinking when you did this or that... she seems to think I'm purposely defying her. Today I was at my wits end... I can't afford to lose my job. Knowing I'm not a bad person, but this is a genuine difficulty... I have adhd too... not officially diagnosed on either, but so many categories fit. Of course I can't tell my boss, hey I'm autistic... that would not be helpful. Lol
It’s so good to hear this described so well! I’ve always called this trait about me either “being in the flow” or “addiction” depending in whether the activity is what I “should” be doing or not. If I get something good done, I know I have to jump straight back into it the next day or I lose the flow. Or if I eat something terribly unhealthy for lunch, I know I cannot under any circumstances repeat the experience the next day or I’ll be eating it for lunch for the next month or two.. 😅 I felt I became “addicted” to anything that gave me good feelings. This information really reframes it.
I am the parent of an autistic child. We didn't realize until he was older (13) but this video describes exactly what I have been going through with him for the last year and a half. He's never been very resistant to new things but since the pandemic has been almost unable to go anywhere with out being completely overwhelmed and having a meltdown. This video just COMPLETELY answered the question of "WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED" in my brain and has shown me what to do. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!❤❤
Inertia goes along with the lack of motivation, the demand/avoidance problem and anxiety and depression. This is pretty much the story of my entire life. It is the worst, most debilitating symptoms that I've ever had from the autism/adhd. It might have helped if I'd had a diagnosis or just the knowledge of knowing that that was a possibility for why I was struggling so much on a daily basis when I was a kid. I'm not exaggerating that. It was every single day. The symptoms started around when puberty, and junior high school arrived. I think this isn't unusual for females. It's the age when our symptoms really, seriously make their first noticeable appearance. Boys, in most cases, but not all, their symptoms are seen much earlier. They just have been looking to early in girls and when it isn't noticable right away, later they've already stopped looking. This is beginning to change somewhat today for adolescent girls. My niece was 12 at her diagnosis. The symptoms end up getting even worse later and the support has disappeared. The worst of it is the whole cumulative effect I think. The more serious symptoms are there forever after. At least mine have been. The executive function problem I guess explains the underlying problem. My psych has been talking about this as a kind of brain fog. He's been suggesting my talking to my psychiatrist about medication to try to improve my motivation. Possibly Adderall, Rysperdahl, or something similar. I was on Adderall a long time ago for a very short time, I never felt my mind so clear in my entire life. I seriously wonder if that is how everyone who isn't me feels like on a daily basis. And how is that possible? That has never been how my own mind has worked, ever. Then I had what was thought to be a bad reaction to it. My psychiatrist said how that wasn't me at all and took me off of it. I think I never felt more like myself than I had ever felt before on that medication. I think my bad reaction was a simple, very noticeable autistic meltdown. I'm someone who has for the most part, about 99 percent of the time, only ever had autistic shutdowns and I would withdraw from the world. Pretty much having all of the symptoms listed above. With my mind so clear I had been interacting with people and my environment much more than I ever had before. The meltdown likely being a result. It was something so new for me. I hope some of what you suggest will be helpful. I've already tried a bit of this kind of stuff. Works sometimes, sort of. I think it's harder to get this to work well when you're older. The mental/physical ruts are so much deeper. It's harder to change your behavior so easily. I really wish I had someone to just give me a swift kick in the a** when I fall into the mental/physical ruts I've built for myself. Someone who would drag me into a freezing cold shower to wake me out of my self- induced, built over a lifetime, mental/physical ruts. This is so devastating when you simply can't function normally like everyone else around you. I will try anything and everything that could potentially help with these symptoms. I can't keep living like this anymore. It's been destroying any hope of my living my life the way I really want to. I'm determined to try. I want to find something, anything that will help me now. To work on fulfilling my dreams. It's going to be my birthday next month. It's something of a milestone. So it's time, absolutely time, to get started living my life. I'll keep watching your videos, they're informative and well done. My thanks for the work you're doing!! It's appreciated.
Inertia, demand avoidance and executive dysfunction are the most disabling aspects of this for me too. My life is not even close to how I'd hoped it would be, or what it could have been if I could function. It's so paralysing. I hope we can find a way to cope because surviving and thriving are two very different things. Your comment made me feel like I'm not alone in this, which is not nothing, so thank you.
Holy mackerel, thank you. Lately it seems that my adhd is writing checks that my autism can't cash & I hit the proverbial wall on Friday. I've been stuck in this stasis for several days & feeling really lousy about myself. I appreciate your channel very much.
Good timing on this video! We were just trying to talk about this last night :/ My son and I are both autistic, (ages 30 and 61), and when both ended up single at the same time, made the decision to split rent on an apartment. Individually we both struggle with this, but together... this is bad lol. We are both better about making sure the other one takes care of themselves, more than taking care of ourselves. The house is suffering though.. not sure how to kick us both into gear!
don’t put too much pressure on yourselves, you’ve done well just to be watching Orion’s video and sounds like you are going thru a hard time with relationships, splitting rent sounds about right with the current housing crisis and interest rates - i just about had a breakdown last night over my mortgage, being a young single apartment owner for the first time and being hit freaking hard and now losing all my money to big bankers
Hey man... tbh... a house is just a house... a home is who is in it... as long as you're both looking out for each other, don't sweat the small stuff... not saying to ignore it but it sounds like the most important parts of the home are being looked after... idk where you live or what your financial situation is like but there are reasonably priced house cleaners in many places... if you're feeling overwhelmed...
@Chloe Boourns... booourns... here's hoping the lies we were being told about not being in a recession last year turn out to be true... smh... if this potatoe could smell a recession why couldn't they..? What's that they say about cats..? Nine feet and always landing on their lives... or something like that... here's to being a pu... I mean here's to being like a cat... 😆 Hope that at least got a smirk...
This was an interesting video because I have thought for years that my lack of motivation and interest in tasks that I used to derive joy from was a direct result of my (diagnosed) depression. I recently received a diagnosis of autism as well, however, and it does seem possible that the situation was more complicated than it had seemed and that the interventions targeting depression as the source may have been misplaced. I don't know what that means for changes going forward, but there is something nice about knowing there are some things I haven't necessarily tried.
I tend to liken my prior diagnoses to being more symptoms of my asd as they are invariably rooted in my asd... I forget which comedian said it perhaps Chris Rock or Dave Chappell but I'm gonna try to paraphrase... sometimes it's isn't depression... sometimes you're just in a shitty situation... or something along those lines... it was a huge turning point of me to realize that hey it not some chemical imbalance that's causing me to feel depressed it's that my asd that leaves me feeling inadequate which then morphs into what anyone would call depression... I mean there may well be a chemical imbalance but when your brain isn't balanced or rather structured the same idk if the standardized treatment of a chemical imbalance would balance the imbalance or throw the imbalance further off balance... omfg that last bit is driving me nuts now but idk how to rephrase to make it make sense... sorry if it irks you too...
@@yazmeliayzol2895 I have understood for a long time (10 years, maybe) that my depression wasn't purely (or even mostly) chemically derived. I guess my difficulty at this point is that while I can generally accept that by brain may very well have been "trained" into depression by attempting to deal with ASD as a child, it doesn't feel as though there's much benefit to that knowledge... at least in my current situation. Generally I struggle to feel anything matters all that much if I don't see a solid link to solving problems. Which, likely, is a fairly substantial blind spot.
Thank you SO much for this one! Tiny storytime/rant as this ASD brain can't ever simplify things: I was diagnosed last year, at the ripe age of 32. Being diagnosed with different things between 2016-18, I did not feel understood by neither my GP's (or "family doctor" - fastlege, as it's called in Norway) or any of the psychologists/psychoneurologists etc. I saw in the span of these 7 years (although no-one truly understood me ever). I didn't even know I was anxious until learning about anxiety. And this, "autistic inertia" together with complete burnout (ME/CFS since my teenage years, bedbound in periods, still am) and "chronic overstimulation" made me believe I could be ADHD. I would've figured it out sooner if it weren't for this specific "trait". *laugh* As I would feel drawn to videos about ADHD and bipolar rather than ASD! Not until my "TH-cam recomended" were filled with ASD - videos I would cling to the "possibly ADHD" - "title". I watched a couple vids on the topic, got bored. Didn't feel it fit me, not knowing any terms or understanding myself the slightest. Still dreading over the fact I was bipolar. (Obviously ADHD and ASD sometimes go hand-in-hand and some could have other diagnosis on top of their ASD). My meds didn't work, I was in a very dark place both mentally and physically. Come 2020 and I become a mum. They followed me up at the local "Infant healthcare programme" when I begged for them to give me someone to talk to, after experiencing severe post partum depression and anxiety. And by pure luck I met a psych who would listen to me. She then refered me to "HAVO", the only "institution" (?), as a section of the public hospital, that diagnose adults with ASD. - I'd seen "all the vids by then" and started explaining things to this pysch.
At first HAVO did not believe I was autistic. High masking, female, good at explaining. Grew up in a good environment and, fortunately, understanding parents who let me be the weird nerdy person I am. I told em to look harder *grin*. xD Ktheend The lession here being "educate yourself" and educate others. The more we share about our symptoms and the different ways different people think, live... Exists... The better our society can become. So thank you for giving us the correct terms and thank you Orion Kelly, amongs other creators who educate us! It feels good to come home. Finally. :) ... However, life is still a struggle. It is hard to set goals when ones "spoons" (battery) are spent. For me though, having a child is a gift. It was difficoult to adapt to being a parent. But I've changed and the stress of parenthood forces me to make space for myself, be selfish, in periods isolate without the guilt. Or else I will not function at all. And in the end it makes me a better person.
I'm tearing up because I had no idea this was a thing. I've been on and off as self diagnosed autistic for the last 5 years and I'm finally fully committing to self diagnosis. I hope to seek an official diagnosis hopefully sooner rather than later but at the time being I'm unemployed because of how hard it is to work full time. I didn't realize that a big part of why it's so hard for me to work full time and function like a neurotypical adult is because of autistic inertia. I'd heard the term before but I always assumed it was that feeling when you're in the zone and can't stop doing something you really like even though you need to eat or go to the bathroom…and I guess it kind of is? but it's also a lot of other things I just thought were my own personal failures. it's such a relief to know I'm not fundamentally lazy and bad. it'll certainly make it easier to be kinder to myself. I'm really grateful for you making this video! surprisingly I had already implemented many of the tips you mentioned even before I knew I was autistic. it was just the only way I got anything done so I stuck to what worked lol
This is very interesting, I am self diagnosed autistic and it explains SO much of my life struggles. I can fully relate to this, I am either full steam ahead, or stop! People often ask how I get so much done at times, but then other times, I can't even get going. So....I have sort of learned to do the small step thing, but even that can take some kick starting at times.
An interesting example from my childhood was bathtime. My mom would marvel at how it was a chore to get me into the bath, and then a chore to get me out again. She didn't understand how, if I seemingly didn't want a bath, why I had so much trouble getting out. My memory of it - of course, bathtime meant interrupting something I was absorbed in and so that took some adjustment. But, when my mom would tell me I'd been in too long and had to get out of the water, I'd wrap the towel around myself and stand in front of the tub, staring at the floor, listening to my breathing and feeling the texture of the cloth for several minutes to adjust to the change in temperature. I have vivid memories of doing this before I could get dressed and leave the bathroom. That slow transition was very soothing, when I was granted the freedom for it.
So glad I happened onto your videos--especially this one. I've been struggling with this inertia for a couple of months. Wake up, get up, get coffee, sit in chair for hours reading and avoiding things I need to actually do. Maybe it's depression from my last meltdown...a fear of pointless screwups from attempting to engage reality. But I am going to take the steps you suggest. Today I will put my clay project in the kiln and fire it and stop being paralyzed by the many activities (including a social one) that will be involved in the decoration phase.
Maybe the clay was just reeeeeeeeeeeeeally wet and needed time to dry before being fired... lmfao... sorry for the horrendous pun/joke... it didn't even occur to me til after I typed really really really long... I shouldn't have let myself out of the cage today it seems... we're allowed some "autistic" license right..? 😆 OK for real I'll stop with the bad puns... Hehehe... I'm so punny... smh... horrible I know...
Orion, I had to laugh out loud over the screen time bit. There are def differing and valid opinions on the topic. I suspect I am Autistic and my son is diagnosed. Limiting my screen time as a kid (in the 80s, 😂) would have prevented me from self teaching myself on computers, systems, networks, programming, business… and could have forced limitations on the alone time I needed as well.
Just wanted to say ty for making these videos. I recently got a diagnosis of autism and ADHD at 40 year old. Despite my history with learning about psychology and mental health, I'm only now learning more about both because no one thought either applied to me for the longest time. You give me a lot to think about and experiment with when it comes to understanding my own functioning.
Thank you. This hit the spot. The transition from a masked life to a truly me life is a challenge. But, autistic inertia has been and is a really big factor in my life. In many ways inhibiting. Also a cause of stress and wear, pushing through when I should have taken a break.
Oh my gosh i really always thought this was just me being a f***up. Now at least i can contextualize it for myself and have some useful strategies!! Thank you!!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! THIS!!! I had no idea, I just thought it was me! It explains so much! I might need to watch this again so I fully understand it. Right now I’m in the shock moment of it’s not just me. Thank you! 💕
5:09-5:15 tht reminds me of when during christmas break 5 years ago, I had so much work to do for school to prepare for my mock exams. And just when I was gonna work on a past history paper, my sisters told me to clean the kitchen, and all of a sudden, I screeched in stress, and collapsed to the floor in a tantrum. I never felt so overwhelmed in my entire life, until that point
Gosh, it's such a strange mix of relief and frustration to hear this. Relief because there is finally a word that can explain one of my biggest struggles, frustration because I was left helpless and ostracized simply for displaying this symptom as I was growing up. I got my autism diagnosis at the age of 20 last year and I suspect I have ADHD too. That is one thing I wanted to say actually: The emphasis on routine in strategies that can help, made me feel hopeless, since I struggle really really bad with keeping up with routines. I try and I try- alwyas failing. I think Orion has already done a video on the relation between autism and ADHD but perhaps having a video on the specific struggles that can come from having these simultaneously would be a nice addition. I know I personally would really appreciate it at least, since it always seems like these two are at war witin me, whilst cancelling each other's symptoms out in other situations.
needed this video right now. after my fiance and i moved last year we got a bigger apartment so we can have a room for our hobbies where the cats can't get to our stuff. been struggling to get going to unpack those boxes and sorting it. had times when i managed a lot and then times when i could even get going with small stuff..... now i know why. thanks so much!
I didn't understand how people were able to respond so much faster than I am usually able to. This applies on jobs and interviews and neurotypicals just act like its the easiest thing ever. If you visibly think for any amount of time then youre an idiot and just serve as a treat to be toyed with until maybe you break.
I hope you can do a video about the sleep problems that come with being autistic. I know I've had issues sleeping right since I was a toddler, my mom says she used to have to literally hold me down to get me to go to sleep after I stopped sleeping in a crib.. and now in my late 30's I sleep whenever I finally pass out and I never know when that'll be and how long I'll stay asleep for, even when I've walked two miles that day. (I can't walk further or my back throws a fit for days afterwards)
My daughter has major sleep issue...no med has helped...Dr said it's common for people on the spectrum to have sleep issues. I would be very interested to hear what Orion had to say on the subject.
Ever since my son was a baby, he too had sleep issues. He slept so little. Every doctor appointment I would complain about it. Every visit, the doctor tells you the range of hours the infant/toddler/child should be sleeping at this point. My son was always in the lessor part of the range if he was even on the scale at all. It took him a long time to fall asleep and then he didn't sleep long at all. At nap time he wouldn't fall asleep until just before dinner. Then he would be up all night. So I had to quit putting him down for naps before 6 months. He is 22 now and still dealing with the same. He has tried several medications, both natural and prescribed. None have helped. He never goes without though. I had him in bed by 8pm until high school just so he could get some hours. He has implemented a sleep schedule, as an adult, which has not helped either. It is worrisome because it is at this young age when longevity of sleep is so important. That is when the number of neuro pathways created and connected are the highest. With him having sleep issues during the development years means he will never have the number of pathways that he should have.
Thank you so much for this video. The description of work place advancement issues was spot on for me. And thank you for the strategies. I feel more "normal" when I listen to your videos. I can't thank you enough!
Thanks for the video. On the positive side of autistic inertia is we can be very good at doing long-term projects. Once we start a project, it is hard for us to stop. Thus, we can out work our peers. In these situations, we can be even more reliable than most other people in completing projects. I actually see this in school. I see students designated as ASD finishing school projects more often than average. May be its because once they get started, they won't stop until the assignment is completed.
Thank you so much for overcoming your inertia and doing this video! You explained it so well. It seems that there are many elderly poeple like me, especially women, that had no idea being in the spectrum and are discovering it late. Autistic inertia is paying into ones selfesteem - unfortunately for decades - getting you even more isolated and - desperate. So this information may not only improve every day life, it may be lifechanging and even lifesaving for some!
You put the finger on what I struggle the most. The story of my life for the past 20 years. I always thought it was depression, now I am stable in that regard. So, I could identify what it is that prevents me from just “do things”. Laziness is not an issue cause I came to understand I am exhausted most of the time. Or, resting so I don’t get exhausted ha! The question is how is inertia related to executive disfunction. Thank you! Your videos clarify a LOT of my autistic treats. 🙏🏼🌟✨✨
I have discovered a pattern in your videos. The pattern is that I watch one of your videos, and I relate completely. Three weeks ago I got a referral to book an appointment for an autism assessment...but have done nothing to book that appointment. I just paused the video so I can run out to my car to get the phone number and book the damned appointment. Thank you for being my external force. EDIT: I just made the inquiry. Holding myself accountable.
I have post-it-notes everywhere, with reminders for everything. Sometimes my to-do list is a grand total of two items, such as "Sign docs" and "make appointment". It can still take a few days to complete.
I'm glad you got through this. I've been thinking of this in terms of Autistic Burnout, but I think that then leads to this. I've been experiencing this my entire life... and was usually written off a lazy.
As far as task switching goes, I find it helpful to recognise what 'mode' I am in at any one time. ( This is similar to mood, but not so emotionally driven) for example, sometimes my brain wants to tidy things around me, but I still have an outstanding task that's completely different. I will tend to give in to the tidying mode, and then after that's done, my mode tends to shift naturally. Another thing that helps is to spend quite a long time meditating on a task before doing it. Really exploring it in my brain, thinking of ways I could do it whilst pushing away the feeling of obligation. Quite often that's enough to get me going.
It's so cool to hear this. I've thought of it as "modes" before, as well, and other people act like this is crazy talk, lol. We speak the same language!
My mom has always said I run on momentum. I didn’t realize it was just another trait of my undiagnosed autism. Thank you for the work you do in educating everyone. 😊
Your video made me think about the Spoon Theory of energy and how quickly I run out of spoons on a bad day - especially if I've had to be really social!!
Inertia of motion is a body in motion tends to remain in motion *in a straight line* unless acted on by an outside force. I find i like to pick an activity or goal and keep at it until i reach a natural conclusion. Being expected to change tracks mid-process is frankly infuriatingly difficult and distressing. Thank you for making this video. Makes so much sense.
Sometimes when I'm stuck in inertia and can't seem to make myself "do the thing", i have found just texting a friend that I need/want to do this thing but I can't seem to get up and do it, helps me find the momentum to start doing it. Often I've already started doing the thing before they even respond
Omg this makes so much sense! Thanks for explaining this and giving skills to use. Great video Orion. I definitely benefit from being "rewarded" more often for each small task I get myself to complete
That moment when you focus on the big picture so much that when you break it down into smaller pieces it makes it all bigger, and routine also adds more things to your plate and you just eventually burn out even if you only do one habit a day (example brushing teeth). :)))
Exactly...If I can build my "own" Eco-friendly house....I can control my environment entirely. Plus, i will know precisely how its built, and how to maintain it, and how to repair it. Simple and efficient, unconventional and low cost and not stupidly built like a normal house.
I have autism and I experience this everyday. I thought this was just something that only happens to me. I didn't know it's a common thing for all autistic people.
Bloody hell, that video hit home, it made me reflect on all of the things I do and avoid doing. That I continually avoid doing, eye contact, new tastes, new things, new activities.... Thank you
I am 40 years old woman starting to understand mi autistic condition, not yet with medical confirmation, but this autistic inertia describes perfectly all the problems I focus in my days. Even I have a work and a child and people encourage me for wath I do, I'm not capable to finish some things, not without a lot of effort, or even find some little time to.fix my routine in the way that I know it will be better to me. Thank you very much
I'm forever stuck doing the same activities, even when I'm alone with nothing the do, even when there's things i really want to work on. That comment about setting unrealistic goals every year and then ten years later going "oh, I'm still me" really hit home.
Thank you for the video. it touches on so many things that i feel, helps me process some of this stuff that i experience. im very stubborn and resist change. Who me? Thanks again Orion, for making these murky waters clearer. Your vids motivate me to move forward and not feel so alone in this. I despise multitasking, i can barely 'task', much less 'multitask'.
This describes me so well and helps me to understand that I'm not lazy. I just have autistic inertia. I will try these strategies. Maybe they can lessen my struggles and get me to do what needs to be done. Thank you.
I kept thinking it was impossible to relate more to what you said and then I related more to what you said. This explains so much, I'm sending this to everyone I know so they will stop thinking I'm lazy!!!
Oh, my good god! Thanks to you, Orion, I finally know, what was always "wrong" with me. EVERYTHING that you say in this and the other video I watched from you IS describing all my - now I know: AUTISTIC"! 8-) - life experiences. I'm 43 years old and just realized, watching your Videos, that I have and struggled my whole life with the typical Symptoms and "behavior" and awareness of Autism! For some months, the thought, that I might be perhaps a partial or "part-time" autist, got louder and louder in my mind - not least thanks to my narcissistic wife, all the "hidden" extremes of my autistic reactions came fully to life and "on stage" in the past three years - and NOW I know, that this "part-time" thing was actually never gone and always fully present, just most of the times and since my childhood on more and more "self-managed" or managed by other people, knowingly or not really "knowing". After a while of living here in South Africa (and two weeks of unwilling fasting - SA IS different) I suddenly felt like watching myself doing things (or NOT doing things because of the missing inertia) and doing them in a way, I always thought, that I already managed to HIDE and "change" or integrate in an inconspicuous way of so-called "normal" life. The reason for this unexpected "coming out" could be just to live in South Africa now, where I finally had enough space (the next neighbours are far away) and "deregulation" to finally SHOW all the spectrums and extremes of my really unbearable autistic behavior (for Austria, where I come from, behaving like this would be completely IMPOSSIBLE without causing a never-ending Domino-Effekt of Misunderstandings, Police, Doctors, psychologists, legal and over time lethal drugs called "medication", and so on and so on!!) About the self-managing: changing things IS very difficult for us, so all my life I was obsessed with "truths" and "bigger rules of the universe" I can stick to, when I felt like there is chaos and change everywhere and I didn't know, what "is the RIGHT thing to do" or if there even IS a thing like that, while being completely unaware that I am basically programming myself to act NOT in an Autistic Way. HA! No wonder, this didn't really work, felt always fake, like a private religion, but was the only possible thing for me to do. Well ... autistic inertia wants to keep me writing, but I know this would be inappropriate. ;) Just so so so so so many THANKS for what you do, Orion (I really like your name! Here in SA we see him headfirst diving through the galactic disc, which sight is btw stunning here from my home valley at the end of the world), and that you made me not only aware of my Autism - sounds funny, but it is a HUGE relief to know! :-D - but also that there IS A COMMUNITY out there! Respect and LOVE for all of you! Siegfried
thank you for this video. Today I have been littery stuck sitting in my computer chair watching videos trying to push myself to start the day. Avoiding going to the P.O. and doing errands. I know once I start the tasks I'm fine, but that transition is just so hard.
I think the difference between inertia and the lack of activity caused by depression, is that depression prevents you from beginning or continuing tasks, whereas inertia prevents you from beginning or *stopping* a task. Whereas depression leads to a tendency towards inactivity, inertia leads to a tendency towards doing whatever it is you're currently doing. Which may be nothing. Both can lead to an inability to perform tasks that you consciously want to do and would bring you joy.
I feel so exposed😂 I don't feel like doing something until I start... Then no one can get me to stop ... Or I get upset trying to stop
This is My autism talking here, so... Inertia is the apt word for Both, as inertia is a describes the force or lack thereof. Depression may be one of many reasons for a lack of positive inertia, while inertia itself is not a 'cause' for positive, neutral or negative state of action. At rest being neutral inertia, active being positive inertia and reduced/reductive being negative inertia. Each 'state' of inertia may have many factors individually or in combination as their cause. Again, I don't mean to be contrary or argumentative, only to explain what MY autistic brain considers the delineation to be. But I am open to new interpretations as well, everyone experiences and responds to the world in their own unique ways, despite us all being simple fleshy people sharing this diverse world.😅
@@brainwithani5693 Yes I am the same, when I stop I can't get motivated, then when I start I'm talking about going to the gym I can't stop I go every 12 hours until I'm exhausted.
There have been studies connecting autism and low brain plasticity, the ability for neurons to establish new connections and change networks.
Our brains literally get 'stuck' on things. I think of it as difficulty changing gears. Go, neutral and reverse. depression is reverse, I get stuck in it often, and it takes effort to pull out of that.
That inertia can also lead to physiological damage. I can get so into things, unable to stop, I would neglect proper nutrition for weeks on end. Extended hyperfocus while using a computer can lead to repetitive strain and carpal over the years.
Perhaps a better analogy than gears is gravity wells, there can be multiple gravity wells pulling at each other, depresion, special interests, sensory overload, demands from the world.
I have found it best to navigate with smooth, 'orbital' paths. Sudden transitions of demands can stress that low neurological plasticity. But more self-planned, smooth transitions can aid in overcoming the gravity well(inertia) when navigating life.
Yeah. I had a pretty bad depression period last year and I know for sure that, when it's autistic inertia I struggle starting something because of how many steps and/or sensory input the activity is goanna take, but I enjoy it as soon as I start or feel good about myself when I'm finished. When it's depression I don't feel any good felling by doing or finishing a task, even if it's something I used to like, like a hobbie, it just doesn't help at all w/ my mood. That's the difference for me I guess
There are a lot of times when I'm alone and have an important task to do I feel absolutely frozen. This video hits home.
also look up task paralysis . those are two similar but different things that neurodivergents deal with
The inertia thing is so true. Not simply from a lazy, unmotivated standpoint, but from the opposite perspective. There is nothing that causes me more stress than being interrupted while I’m doing a task. I have my flow going, then I get asked to stop and do something else. It will throw me off entirely. If that happens I find it extremely difficult to return to the task I was working on, or to do any other task.
I'm like this when having a conversation. If the person I am talking to interupts me without allowing me to explain myself it interupts my flow and then I find it hard to keep going with what I was saying.
lazy people dont feel bad about not doing what they should . they enjoy it . if you are not enjoying being inactive do not call it lazyness . it is verry bad for people that got diagnosed late and are trying to unmask and stop calling themselves lazy or weird etc .
@@bennettcain635 yep . most of the time i feel like the most annoying symptom of neurodivergence is neurotypicals and their refusal to try and understand us .
@@myname-mz3loI agree with you completely. Very well said
Whrn I was working full time in a school I had CONSTANT interruption,
My little trick was to work on a task for abt 5-10 min put it away and "do nothing" for 3-5 min (depending)
b/c usually during the time I was doing "nothing" the phone would ring or a child would come into my office or the principal would come in and want to talk abt something important.
I also had gotten used to the flow of energy after a while so like in the morning from 8am until 10am I "did nothing" b/c students were arriving, parents wanted to talk, deliveries came in, etc.
Then 10 am-11am it was quiet so I rotated through 3 tasks that I wanted to complete that day in 5 minute chunks.
I would only do at max 3 tasks a day that were out of the regular routine and other than that I was doing my routine task such as checking email (we were always getting bimbarded from NYSED and the district) and working on attendance for that day (calling families when a child was absent)
I got pretty good at it but eventually I had to retire b/c I have glaucoma and needed eye surgery or I would go blind.
I totally lost it at my last job - I was doing 20 hours for the accounting, 20 hours for the marketing department - two completely different kinds of work. I kept telling people, mornings accounting (counting money, excel sheets, working with forms), afternoons marketing (reading and writing reports). I use schedules and to-do lists all the time. But people would insist on bothering me at the wrong times!!! I'd completely lose it when someone would demand a payment in the afternoon or a report in the morning. I felt like a small child, about to throw a huge tantrum, it was so difficult to stay calm and 'adult' about it. Then they'd call me 'you are not flexible enough'!!!! After about 3 years, I really lost it, was burnt out, severely depressed and then physically I became sick. I haven't worked since. I now see that I was not only dealing with work place stress but also fighting autistic inertia - feeling lazy, while knowing I was not a lazy person.
What a great strategy to cope! What a moronic workplace not to value that.
I feel this so much. When I was working in a fast paced fast food environment they'd often ask me to switch the job I was doing depending on who else was there and I hated that. I liked doing just whatever task I was doing consistently. It's why, even though I had to talk to people, I enjoyed taking orders the most because I would usually do that the whole day and didn't have to do a bunch of different things
I suffered Autistic Burn-out (After a colossal breakdown leading to shutdown) at 18 and never recovered, however, at 21 (I'm 29), I developped a bunch more neurological problems which completely kicked my autism into overdrive and resulted in me being paralysed like described. I lost my job, my friends, so on. I was placed on a bunch of drugs (Which some do help after much trial and error).
Ever since then, I've been unable to do anything to take care of my physical health and wellbeing.
It seems that this video has described what I have been dealing with for the past 8-11 years now.
Whats refreshing is that i've tried doing the things he's said and they do help, but then life happens and throws your newly established routine out of the window and boom, back to square one.
Happenning with smoking,
getting my solo career off the ground
hygiene.
If you don't know how to manage it, it really constumes your entire life and rips things apart (along with anything else life throws out you.)
Thank you to Orion for showing us this and then thank you and good luck you lovely people for being so supportive of one another. xxxxx
@@Starmoonthechampionwhat meds helped???
@@ahedch Well mate, the problem which I developed was called "Psychosis" and a mixture of "Respiridone" + "Floxitine" + "Pregabilen" has helped keep me even with my psychosis. I can't advise the Respiridone since it's a anti-psychotic however the other two may help you with anxiety and low mood. PRegabilen is a control drug in the UK so its hard to get but it does help with the depression and anxiety a lot. Which helps battle the Psychosis and keeps the autism calmer.
I hope this helps. I've probably mispelt the names but if you google them, they may help. Fluoxitine is a anti-anxiety drug and the pregabilin is a anti depression / anti anxiety too.
Hope this helps bro xxxxx
I am on the way to 42 years, but it feels like i am already 80 or 90 years on this planet and this inertia thing seems to have more impact the older i get.
For me, the transition from "Rest" to "Active" is as hard, as going from "Active" to "Rest" and it doesn´t matter if they are things that have to be done or i enjoy.
Er dat... I joke with my dad that I hope he doesn't feel this old when he's my age... I'm 36, and he's 80...
Yep. So relatable.
Sending so much love, encouragement and solidarity to you both!❤
I'm 59..... Goth Bosh Incarnate March 21st 1965 to March 19th, 2029.
Thank you for speaking about these topics. It makes me feel more understanding about myself instead of just feeling bad under the lazy, loner, unproductive labels that people put on me.
What gets me with healthcare professionals is the fact what's going on with you is like some kinda secret nobody should ever know mentally and physically probably more so physically try seeing a shrink in uk without having to pay for it good f ing luck it cost me 2500£ for duel diagnosis something that should have been diagnosed a long time ago btw i was 41 when i got a diagnosis. Ridiculously too late.
@@stephenlamley541 I moved to the UK 2years ago and now have opportunity to be diagnosed since I did not have insurance in America. It felt validating to score 10 out of 10 on the AQ 10 and to be put on a waiting list for autism assessment even if it is 4 years. I could not have done that in America for free.
@His Poiema we (I and my autistic son) live in an area of America where it is rare to find any type of professional that has any knowledge of autism beyond the fact that it exists. Yet we do have a regional health center that is responsible for diagnosing and helping/educating adult autists. I believe they will evaluate and diagnose for free or at least on a sliding scale. Also, the schools have to provide an evaluation/diagnosis of their own (with the district psychologist) if they are requested to as part of an Individual Education Plan (IEP). That is 100% free. Depending on how busy the psychologist is, this evaluation will be done in a couple of months. So there is ways to find out even if you don't have insurance. The problem is really that the awareness is not there. My son born in 2000 received early intervention speech therapy because his speech onset was delayed. This was the first thing his doctor thought to get him help for despite the fact that I described and questioned several of his behaviors that I now know are common autism traits. I wasn't aware at the time but his pediatrician sure as heck should have known. He was finally diagnosed at 17. We have struggled since then to find help for him in learning how to deal with good, bad and tough situations that autism brings to the table, especially in the mental health sector. You think they would be the most knowledgeable but 👎. Still a sad state of affairs. So you can get it diagnosed but you cannot get any help with it.
No, see, thing is NT people have this problem as well. Same with ADD'ds.
This stuff that clinicians come up with has two things in mind:
1. insurance rates
2. in patient care schedules
The DSM-5 puts these two at the forefront, NOT reality (which comes third)
Autism is a psy-op. ADD id a psy-op. Anxiety and Depression are psy-ops designed around kickbacks received by Big Pharma.
The fact that no one sees this makes me sad!
I dislike those labels people put on us it makes me not be myself and all I do is try to change their labels they have put on me
I have this struggle with inertia, even with things I love. Socially even more so. I typically only have "one person" that I feel connected to. In my early 20's I thought it was ADHD, than I thought it was depression, more specifically, atypical depression. I can hyper focus, when life demands it, or for new and interesting things, but than the momentum just evaporates. Later in life I come to understand my extremely dysfunctional childhood, and the symptoms of trauma, and thought I have C-PTSD. Now I watch autism videos, and relate to a majority of the symptoms, and sort of have no idea what to think anymore. Is it Trauma or Autism or does it even matter what I call my issues? Saying I have insert label is starting to be lost on me.
One issue is the mostly fake society we live in. Not being able to fit in isn't good (lonely) but neither is being a "bad actor" which so many appear to be, especially in positions of power. Capitalism demands you play a role of some kind, usually a very narrow, specialized one, over and over, for 40 plus hours a week. That is exhausting for someone like me, although it strikes me as odd that being able to easily do that indicates a more "ordered" healthy human. If a healthy human is defined simply by their ability to maintain inertia within a stressful system simply because that inertia is profitable, that maybe the norm but not necessarily better or healthy. Even if that inertia is productive but not profitable, than well that person who has a fun hobby still must have a disorder.
Now I'm reminded of Barbara Sher, who was a career/lifestyle coach. She talks about folks who have a scanner personality. That is defined basically as those who struggle to find a singular focus in life to which my response is, who wouldn't? Even making it as a Rockstar than having to sing the same old 5 or 6 hits 1,000's of times over would become a nightmare. Scanners enjoy learning, than moving on, to more learning. So they don't typically want to spend an entire life/career practicing just one of the skills they learned, as a career. This seems more interesting and healthy for an curious, intelligent being, except within the framework of capitalism, than it's abnormal and the individual needs fixing in some manner.
I'm not sure where I'm going with all this? A nap I think as I'm suddenly out of gas. Probably another symptom?
If you've experienced trauma throughout childhood there very well may be some pts going on. If it inhibits you a professional you feel comfortable talking with may be very beneficial. If you can afford it.
Maybe the train was heading to whose to say which came first the NT or the ND? Capitalism is much newer than humanity and since we don't fit neatly into Capitalism we are considered ND... maybe Capitalism is a concept of NDs and really we are the NT hold overs from precapitalist genetics... anywho... Choo Choo... this train is leaving the station... and remember keep your stick on the ice, we're all in this together... props if you get that reference...
The fact that your comment is detailed &/long..is a trait. Consider maybe all 3. AuDHD is extremely common & makes a person more prone to trauma. I consider myself to have all 3. As a woman, it's a particular flavour. I find a lot of commonality with people with the same combination. Otherwise the internal conflict would have confused me for more decades. ADHD for me was the most apparent. When that was medicated, out came the rest of me.
@@HeatherLandex What was it like to be on the medication? Did any help?
@@Starmoonthechampion over time adhd meds provoked autistic burnout, however I think for people with ADHD it can be life changing (taming). I've tried several kinds, difficult to track but c9nclusion was, I'm sensitive to side effect &/feeling anxious.
From the moment I learned this is what society is as a little child, I DREADED becoming an adult. Now I long for the nursing home (which my generation will be priced completely out of). My family exiled me for reasons I'm not even sure of, and still struggle at almost forty to understand. Mental health professionals don't want to help me in any of the ways I actually need, not even actually test me so I can get the diagnosis and resources.
I think this society depends on people like us eventually taking ourselves out of the pool, if you know what I mean. I struggle with thoughts of ending it every minute of every day
Step-based thinking is more of a challenge for me than autistic inertia. My brain likes to divide every task into smaller, more "manageable" tasks, but it'll seemingly do that to infinity: you can after all break a single task (brushing my teeth, for example) into so many tiny steps, that it makes the task seem completely overwhelming.
Preach ;;
I struggle with step-based thinking too because making a task multiple steps doesn't take away the feeling of the whole task needing completed for me. If it's a long length of chain that's heavy to pull, I can cut it into shorter individually lighter lengths, but my brain doesn't allow them to be separated, so it goes around linking all the lengths again, replacing the cut links with much heavier shackles making the whole chain heavier to pull than it was to begin with. In those situations, all breaking it down into multiple steps does is increase the number of changes in direction needed to complete the task (where the momentum tries to push straight on and needs extra energy to to turn it). The amount of energy needed to complete it only increases as each step carries it's own momentum/inertia once started (the something will keep moving at a constant speed in straight line, or velocity, if not acted on, bit of the rule of inertia), but separating the steps just zig-zags towards the goal, making getting to the finish harder, as it takes more energy and time to wind down then wind up in the new step's direction.
It could also be thought of as a train barreling down a hill and each additional step is another curve threatening to derail us. Sometimes the best solution to working with inertia is to point it to the finish and let it roll straight there, but it can be difficult to balance that with a long track to get to that point, as we need the energy to establish that momentum at the start of the track, and the further we need to go, the more momentum we need to start with to get there, because on earth there's friction with the tracks trying to stop us short of the finish.
step based thinking and inertia arent mutually exclusive though.step based thinking is a mechanism and inertia is one of its common negative symptoms
I am 60 and autistic who wasn't diagnosed until age 44. I never heard about autistic inertia until your video. I thought it was advanced ADHD co-morbid with my autism. It's still ADHD, but tailored to autism, a basic component of it. Thanks for helping me refine my understanding.
I am 65 but was only diagnosed ten years ago 🤔
its fun tacking the word "autistic" on all of your personality traits. I'd like to see a citation.
@@smartiepancake wow you just go online and tell people with dissabilities that their symptoms are personality traits ... wow that is pure evil . youll rott for this ... this is proven by neuroscience . dopamine sensitivity is lower in nd people .. so it doesnt motivate us as much . the personality trait you just showed is way worse and you have no excuse for it
same . look up task paralysis it is similar but also reall good to know about . so that you stop judging yourself and see them as symptoms and not negative personality traits .
"If you have lost your energy from masking and being triggered, then you're clearly going to be an object at rest."
You say this as I'm laying my head down at work because I'm so tired at the end of my shift and I need to be able to drive home in 20 ish minutes. And sometimes I convince myself that I don't have autism. 🤷♀️
"All the things for which my heart yearns
Bring joy in ever deminishing returns"
I totally get you on this one man. I have been stuck for several months now for various reasons. Cemented in one place. The struggle is real!!
The torture of Tantalus...
I think my thinker thunk that right...
OK I just left a comment about how great autistic inertia is. But I do want to mention that it has also been my downfall. I quit my job to pursue my passion. I was unable to meet any of my personal goals. It seriously threw me into a depression because I wanted to do all of these things so bad. Executive function and a mix of fear of communicating , and anxiety related to random things, overwhelm getting started on anything, OCD, and problems with integration of information and steps to make a “whole”.. (autistic people often struggle with synthesizing of information.) Ultimately these things Prevented me from achieving what I wanted most in life. But then I learned about autistic inertia, and now I am learning how to get myself moving.
I'm experiencing this RIGHT THIS SECOND. I'm so afraid I'm going to lose this tentative grasp I have in the kite tail of my dream. I've let several great opportunities pass already and I'm just stuck in cement. I'm SO SLOW. I've been learning coping strategies finally so maybe, possibly, I might get somewhere. Maybe.
Im thinking of getting a psychology degree. But like part time. Otherwise it will too much. But to do this i cant be working at the same time...im not sure yet what i will decide. I have an idea how to have income during those years. But nothing is decided at all. Having studied history and international relations im worried we might get into WW3. Im really waiting some more time.
its a powerful piece of the puzzle....
I use my autistic inertia in a positive way. As in hyper-productivity. When I'm on a roll and I find it difficult to stop. I will not do anything but the task at hand until it's done. This weekend I built a pergola and completed my ute's clutch overhaul.
That's awesome and feels so good.
that is a road that leads to burn outs.. it led me to working in michelin starred kitchens and becoming ethical hacker in a year . but it also led me to the most terrible burn outs in my life . nearly lost it . so be careful and put your health before productivity
Wow and here I was thinking this was an ADHD issue I was struggling with and I was so proud for managing to trick myself into getting stuff done by breaking tasks down into ridiculously small tasks and rewarding myself with a new video game afterwards 😅 it's so hard to tell which condition is responsible for a certain issue when you have both (adhd and autism) 😅
For me I find addressing things from an asd perspective first helps most as for me it seems to be the soil from which my garden of alphabet soup grows... xp
@@yazmeliayzol2895 wow that is such a pretty way to describe it. I will try to remember this for when my therapist doubts the fact that I might be autistic the next time 😂
I multitask this way: run the dishwasher, laundry in a washer and dryer, go grocery shopping. This makes me feel like I’m accomplishing what I should.
I have to credit you here. I got a job in november. Im 60 and autistic. Ive had some luck in the workplace but long term i burn out. Your videos have given me the tools to so far succeed and be offered a manager position . Thank you so much. Also timing of this video perfect. Had a stop in my tracks moment last week. Will try your suggestions.
Congratulations on the promotion ❤
I'm really proud of you, well done at picking on a new thing to use to refine your workplace performance. Please consider letting us know how, several months on, how you (and just from your perspective, although feel free to assess it objectively if you would like to share that too) felt your new insight has/hasn't impacted your approach and satisfaction at work.
PS I really appreciate you speaking up, regardless of whether u r comfortable going public more: you rock.
I'm 43 and was diagnosed last year with autistic spectrum disorder of Sensory integration. I've had this my entire life.
I did not know how to describe this inertia to others, and it has caused many problems with progressing in any career, and it has eroded family relationships.
My parents & siblings have concluded that I am lazy, irresponsible, & inconsiderate and they frequently express anger and disappointment at me for being lazy and irresponsible. It has led to many fights & blowouts where I get stuck with rage-fueled rumination that doesn't ebb for at least an hour at a time.
Maybe they might understand if I show them this explanation. Thanks for the video.
Unfortunately, it might be better if you don't put much hope on 1 video explaining things to problematic relatives. My experience has been that relatives who consider you lazy, inconsiderate, or irresponsible are unlikely to change their minds, even with new data relevant to you.
@@joycebrewer4150 not to worry, i am black-pilled and expect the worst
Inability to go to sleep, to let go enough to let myself lie down and rest, working through legally required breaks.......OR inability to actually take that first step in a task I know I can do and need to do.......your description is spot-on. Either way, it's exhausting.
that is task paralysis
I'm a software developer and when I have a task to do that I personally want to see completed then I am motivated to get it done no matter what hurdles I encounter. This motivation can sometimes even go beyond my mental exhaustion as I don't want to stop until it's done no matter what impact it has on me mentally.
However, if I'm given a task to do that I personally don't want it to be done at all then my motivation is a struggle. This is when it feels like I'm walking in thick mud and everything is exhausting. My ideal solution is for it to be given to someone else as sometimes being given something to do that I don't think should be done at all feels like I'm being personally forced to do it or even punished.
This all happened before I was diagnosed as autistic and it was the beginning of the journey where I realised things are more different between me and everyone else than I first thought.
I'm the same way. The problem now is that almost everything is pointless. When I enjoy a task, certainly I will do it no matter what. But few things in life currently makes me feel it deserves my energy and dedication. I can't do even for myself, because I feel it doesn't worth a pity. 😮
Yesterday I frustrated cleaned my flat. I hadn't been functioning properly for months. I was today years old when I found out about this. This explains so much. This is why we need more services for adults with autism so we can figure this out. We shouldn't have to be relying on people like yourself for answers. The system is broken tge second younturn 18.
Multitasking creates the illusion of productivity.
if you have adhd there is nothing but multitasking .. no illusion there . people with adhd cannot do single task we are allways multitasking even during meditation etc
@@myname-mz3lo It is still less productive to multitask, while giving the feeling and impression of being productive. Do you never hyperfocus?
@@johnridout6540 do you think hyperfocusing is productive ? are burn outs productive ??
@@myname-mz3lo I think we should distinguish between productive and beneficial. But it is the epitome of monotasking.
Thank you so much for this description. This is a part of my autism that is the debilitating is autistic inertia. It is so much a double edge sword for me. But at the same time, I’m thankful for it because it is the one of the main things that finally took me in to get my diagnosis. Not to mention when I AM in motion this is the part where it is easy to call it a “super power”. For me my favorite moments in life is when I’m alone doing my special interest where is my inertia just all systems go. To be honest, my inertia is kind of what gives my life meaning. I kinda live for the positive side of it.
I am 54 and was only diagnosed autistic a couple of years ago. I've watched a few of your videos now, Orion, and some ring true more so than others. I have to say this one (along with the meltdown one) rings truest of all for me, and that the inertia just gets worse and worse as I get older. There are no end of things I want to do/need to do and I spend most of my time doing nothing or playing an online scrabble game. Strategies are what I need, I'm sure.
Amazing thank you. I’m an undiagnosed 77Year old and this resonates so deeply! Every day is a battle and I’m beginning to understand why! Thank you.
i have always felt crazy because i experience this exact thing. it is so frustrating. it has negatively impacted my entire life. i have always tried to explain this to the people around me & have never had the words that make them understand. i always connected it to autism but nobody seems to nail it on the head like you did. thank you for these strategies! i will definitely be using them :)
I 100% am now self diagnosing autism as a comorbidity with the diagnosed ADHD I have. You're videos have been immensely helpful in trying to figure myself out as a burned out adult! The autistic inertia combined with 253 ADHD hobbies is a living hell....I thought I was either depressed or lazy. 😮
Welcome to the club. There's a female AuDHD TH-cam like Orion (Yo Samdy Sam) helped me see it in myself. Autism is under studied &/missed so much in females or AFAB. Th8s video was fab Orion.
Absolutely. I never knew there was such a thing. What a relief. I beat myself up for being lazy. And I'm constantly struggling with this in the office, I have a new supervisor who is on me all day...she's making my life miserable. I can't live up to her expectations it seems. When she asks me why did this take so long, or what were you thinking when you did this or that... she seems to think I'm purposely defying her. Today I was at my wits end... I can't afford to lose my job. Knowing I'm not a bad person, but this is a genuine difficulty...
I have adhd too... not officially diagnosed on either, but so many categories fit. Of course I can't tell my boss, hey I'm autistic... that would not be helpful. Lol
It’s so good to hear this described so well! I’ve always called this trait about me either “being in the flow” or “addiction” depending in whether the activity is what I “should” be doing or not. If I get something good done, I know I have to jump straight back into it the next day or I lose the flow. Or if I eat something terribly unhealthy for lunch, I know I cannot under any circumstances repeat the experience the next day or I’ll be eating it for lunch for the next month or two.. 😅 I felt I became “addicted” to anything that gave me good feelings.
This information really reframes it.
This is my biggest problem and it has gotten worse as I've gotten older.
I am the parent of an autistic child. We didn't realize until he was older (13) but this video describes exactly what I have been going through with him for the last year and a half. He's never been very resistant to new things but since the pandemic has been almost unable to go anywhere with out being completely overwhelmed and having a meltdown. This video just COMPLETELY answered the question of "WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED" in my brain and has shown me what to do. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!❤❤
The proverbial I’ve fallen and I can’t get up And I’m on a roll get out of my way. Real
Inertia goes along with the lack of motivation, the demand/avoidance problem and anxiety and depression. This is pretty much the story of my entire life. It is the worst, most debilitating symptoms that I've ever had from the autism/adhd. It might have helped if I'd had a diagnosis or just the knowledge of knowing that that was a possibility for why I was struggling so much on a daily basis when I was a kid. I'm not exaggerating that. It was every single day. The symptoms started around when puberty, and junior high school arrived. I think this isn't unusual for females. It's the age when our symptoms really, seriously make their first noticeable appearance. Boys, in most cases, but not all, their symptoms are seen much earlier. They just have been looking to early in girls and when it isn't noticable right away, later they've already stopped looking. This is beginning to change somewhat today for adolescent girls. My niece was 12 at her diagnosis. The symptoms end up getting even worse later and the support has disappeared. The worst of it is the whole cumulative effect I think. The more serious symptoms are there forever after. At least mine have been.
The executive function problem I guess explains the underlying problem. My psych has been talking about this as a kind of brain fog. He's been suggesting my talking to my psychiatrist about medication to try to improve my motivation. Possibly Adderall, Rysperdahl, or something similar. I was on Adderall a long time ago for a very short time, I never felt my mind so clear in my entire life. I seriously wonder if that is how everyone who isn't me feels like on a daily basis. And how is that possible? That has never been how my own mind has worked, ever. Then I had what was thought to be a bad reaction to it. My psychiatrist said how that wasn't me at all and took me off of it. I think I never felt more like myself than I had ever felt before on that medication. I think my bad reaction was a simple, very noticeable autistic meltdown. I'm someone who has for the most part, about 99 percent of the time, only ever had autistic shutdowns and I would withdraw from the world. Pretty much having all of the symptoms listed above. With my mind so clear I had been interacting with people and my environment much more than I ever had before. The meltdown likely being a result. It was something so new for me. I hope some of what you suggest will be helpful. I've already tried a bit of this kind of stuff. Works sometimes, sort of. I think it's harder to get this to work well when you're older. The mental/physical ruts are so much deeper. It's harder to change your behavior so easily. I really wish I had someone to just give me a swift kick in the a** when I fall into the mental/physical ruts I've built for myself. Someone who would drag me into a freezing cold shower to wake me out of my self- induced, built over a lifetime, mental/physical ruts. This is so devastating when you simply can't function normally like everyone else around you. I will try anything and everything that could potentially help with these symptoms. I can't keep living like this anymore. It's been destroying any hope of my living my life the way I really want to. I'm determined to try. I want to find something, anything that will help me now. To work on fulfilling my dreams. It's going to be my birthday next month. It's something of a milestone. So it's time, absolutely time, to get started living my life. I'll keep watching your videos, they're informative and well done. My thanks for the work you're doing!! It's appreciated.
Inertia, demand avoidance and executive dysfunction are the most disabling aspects of this for me too. My life is not even close to how I'd hoped it would be, or what it could have been if I could function. It's so paralysing.
I hope we can find a way to cope because surviving and thriving are two very different things.
Your comment made me feel like I'm not alone in this, which is not nothing, so thank you.
@@Zayaxa task paralysis too
Holy mackerel, thank you.
Lately it seems that my adhd is writing checks that my autism can't cash & I hit the proverbial wall on Friday. I've been stuck in this stasis for several days & feeling really lousy about myself.
I appreciate your channel very much.
I also have both ADHD and Autism and just got my autism diagnosis about two weeks ago and trying to better understand myself with the two
Good timing on this video! We were just trying to talk about this last night :/ My son and I are both autistic, (ages 30 and 61), and when both ended up single at the same time, made the decision to split rent on an apartment. Individually we both struggle with this, but together... this is bad lol. We are both better about making sure the other one takes care of themselves, more than taking care of ourselves. The house is suffering though.. not sure how to kick us both into gear!
don’t put too much pressure on yourselves, you’ve done well just to be watching Orion’s video and sounds like you are going thru a hard time with relationships, splitting rent sounds about right with the current housing crisis and interest rates - i just about had a breakdown last night over my mortgage, being a young single apartment owner for the first time and being hit freaking hard and now losing all my money to big bankers
Hey man... tbh... a house is just a house... a home is who is in it... as long as you're both looking out for each other, don't sweat the small stuff... not saying to ignore it but it sounds like the most important parts of the home are being looked after... idk where you live or what your financial situation is like but there are reasonably priced house cleaners in many places... if you're feeling overwhelmed...
@Chloe
Boourns... booourns... here's hoping the lies we were being told about not being in a recession last year turn out to be true... smh... if this potatoe could smell a recession why couldn't they..? What's that they say about cats..? Nine feet and always landing on their lives... or something like that... here's to being a pu... I mean here's to being like a cat... 😆
Hope that at least got a smirk...
@@yazmeliayzol2895 haha it did XD
This was an interesting video because I have thought for years that my lack of motivation and interest in tasks that I used to derive joy from was a direct result of my (diagnosed) depression. I recently received a diagnosis of autism as well, however, and it does seem possible that the situation was more complicated than it had seemed and that the interventions targeting depression as the source may have been misplaced. I don't know what that means for changes going forward, but there is something nice about knowing there are some things I haven't necessarily tried.
I tend to liken my prior diagnoses to being more symptoms of my asd as they are invariably rooted in my asd... I forget which comedian said it perhaps Chris Rock or Dave Chappell but I'm gonna try to paraphrase... sometimes it's isn't depression... sometimes you're just in a shitty situation... or something along those lines... it was a huge turning point of me to realize that hey it not some chemical imbalance that's causing me to feel depressed it's that my asd that leaves me feeling inadequate which then morphs into what anyone would call depression... I mean there may well be a chemical imbalance but when your brain isn't balanced or rather structured the same idk if the standardized treatment of a chemical imbalance would balance the imbalance or throw the imbalance further off balance... omfg that last bit is driving me nuts now but idk how to rephrase to make it make sense... sorry if it irks you too...
@@yazmeliayzol2895 I have understood for a long time (10 years, maybe) that my depression wasn't purely (or even mostly) chemically derived.
I guess my difficulty at this point is that while I can generally accept that by brain may very well have been "trained" into depression by attempting to deal with ASD as a child, it doesn't feel as though there's much benefit to that knowledge... at least in my current situation.
Generally I struggle to feel anything matters all that much if I don't see a solid link to solving problems. Which, likely, is a fairly substantial blind spot.
Thank you SO much for this one!
Tiny storytime/rant as this ASD brain can't ever simplify things:
I was diagnosed last year, at the ripe age of 32. Being diagnosed with different things between 2016-18, I did not feel understood by neither my GP's (or "family doctor" - fastlege, as it's called in Norway) or any of the psychologists/psychoneurologists etc. I saw in the span of these 7 years (although no-one truly understood me ever).
I didn't even know I was anxious until learning about anxiety. And this, "autistic inertia" together with complete burnout (ME/CFS since my teenage years, bedbound in periods, still am) and "chronic overstimulation" made me believe I could be ADHD.
I would've figured it out sooner if it weren't for this specific "trait". *laugh* As I would feel drawn to videos about ADHD and bipolar rather than ASD! Not until my "TH-cam recomended" were filled with ASD - videos I would cling to the "possibly ADHD" - "title". I watched a couple vids on the topic, got bored. Didn't feel it fit me, not knowing any terms or understanding myself the slightest. Still dreading over the fact I was bipolar. (Obviously ADHD and ASD sometimes go hand-in-hand and some could have other diagnosis on top of their ASD). My meds didn't work, I was in a very dark place both mentally and physically.
Come 2020 and I become a mum. They followed me up at the local "Infant healthcare programme" when I begged for them to give me someone to talk to, after experiencing severe post partum depression and anxiety. And by pure luck I met a psych who would listen to me. She then refered me to "HAVO", the only "institution" (?), as a section of the public hospital, that diagnose adults with ASD. - I'd seen "all the vids by then" and started explaining things to this pysch.
At first HAVO did not believe I was autistic. High masking, female, good at explaining. Grew up in a good environment and, fortunately, understanding parents who let me be the weird nerdy person I am. I told em to look harder *grin*. xD
Ktheend
The lession here being "educate yourself" and educate others. The more we share about our symptoms and the different ways different people think, live... Exists... The better our society can become.
So thank you for giving us the correct terms and thank you Orion Kelly, amongs other creators who educate us! It feels good to come home. Finally. :)
...
However, life is still a struggle. It is hard to set goals when ones "spoons" (battery) are spent.
For me though, having a child is a gift. It was difficoult to adapt to being a parent. But I've changed and the stress of parenthood forces me to make space for myself, be selfish, in periods isolate without the guilt. Or else I will not function at all. And in the end it makes me a better person.
Complete disinterest in things that bring me joy. I didn't understand this, so thank you for shedding light 🙏
I'm tearing up because I had no idea this was a thing. I've been on and off as self diagnosed autistic for the last 5 years and I'm finally fully committing to self diagnosis. I hope to seek an official diagnosis hopefully sooner rather than later but at the time being I'm unemployed because of how hard it is to work full time. I didn't realize that a big part of why it's so hard for me to work full time and function like a neurotypical adult is because of autistic inertia. I'd heard the term before but I always assumed it was that feeling when you're in the zone and can't stop doing something you really like even though you need to eat or go to the bathroom…and I guess it kind of is? but it's also a lot of other things I just thought were my own personal failures. it's such a relief to know I'm not fundamentally lazy and bad. it'll certainly make it easier to be kinder to myself. I'm really grateful for you making this video!
surprisingly I had already implemented many of the tips you mentioned even before I knew I was autistic. it was just the only way I got anything done so I stuck to what worked lol
I often forget this truth myself, but imma say it anyway... autistic people literally can't be lazy, everything takes us more effort...
If we look lazy we are either recuperating or facing inertia...
This is very interesting, I am self diagnosed autistic and it explains SO much of my life struggles. I can fully relate to this, I am either full steam ahead, or stop! People often ask how I get so much done at times, but then other times, I can't even get going. So....I have sort of learned to do the small step thing, but even that can take some kick starting at times.
I have found the INERTIA has been problematic for me since going to university, the more that needs to be done, results in the more inertia habits
An interesting example from my childhood was bathtime. My mom would marvel at how it was a chore to get me into the bath, and then a chore to get me out again. She didn't understand how, if I seemingly didn't want a bath, why I had so much trouble getting out.
My memory of it - of course, bathtime meant interrupting something I was absorbed in and so that took some adjustment. But, when my mom would tell me I'd been in too long and had to get out of the water, I'd wrap the towel around myself and stand in front of the tub, staring at the floor, listening to my breathing and feeling the texture of the cloth for several minutes to adjust to the change in temperature. I have vivid memories of doing this before I could get dressed and leave the bathroom. That slow transition was very soothing, when I was granted the freedom for it.
So glad I happened onto your videos--especially this one. I've been struggling with this inertia for a couple of months. Wake up, get up, get coffee, sit in chair for hours reading and avoiding things I need to actually do. Maybe it's depression from my last meltdown...a fear of pointless screwups from attempting to engage reality. But I am going to take the steps you suggest. Today I will put my clay project in the kiln and fire it and stop being paralyzed by the many activities (including a social one) that will be involved in the decoration phase.
Maybe the clay was just reeeeeeeeeeeeeally wet and needed time to dry before being fired... lmfao... sorry for the horrendous pun/joke... it didn't even occur to me til after I typed really really really long... I shouldn't have let myself out of the cage today it seems... we're allowed some "autistic" license right..? 😆 OK for real I'll stop with the bad puns...
Hehehe... I'm so punny... smh... horrible I know...
I’m not crying. Honestly I’m so grateful for this video that I am crying. Been feeling like I’m broken lately. ❤
Orion, I had to laugh out loud over the screen time bit. There are def differing and valid opinions on the topic. I suspect I am Autistic and my son is diagnosed. Limiting my screen time as a kid (in the 80s, 😂) would have prevented me from self teaching myself on computers, systems, networks, programming, business… and could have forced limitations on the alone time I needed as well.
Give me choices but not too many! That's definitely me
+orionkelly *Ye might want to correct the timestamps:*
00:23 - Welcome
01:01 - What Is Autistic Inertia?
04:34 - Causes
06:13 - Examples
13:39 - Key strategies
Just wanted to say ty for making these videos. I recently got a diagnosis of autism and ADHD at 40 year old. Despite my history with learning about psychology and mental health, I'm only now learning more about both because no one thought either applied to me for the longest time. You give me a lot to think about and experiment with when it comes to understanding my own functioning.
I got diagnosed with ADHD at about 6 years old and just got my Autism diagnosis about two to three weeks ago. I’m 44 years old now
Thank you. This hit the spot. The transition from a masked life to a truly me life is a challenge. But, autistic inertia has been and is a really big factor in my life.
In many ways inhibiting. Also a cause of stress and wear, pushing through when I should have taken a break.
Oh my gosh i really always thought this was just me being a f***up. Now at least i can contextualize it for myself and have some useful strategies!! Thank you!!!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! THIS!!!
I had no idea, I just thought it was me! It explains so much! I might need to watch this again so I fully understand it. Right now I’m in the shock moment of it’s not just me. Thank you! 💕
Haha, you crack me up, "I can answer that cos I'm the only person talking"
5:09-5:15 tht reminds me of when during christmas break 5 years ago, I had so much work to do for school to prepare for my mock exams. And just when I was gonna work on a past history paper, my sisters told me to clean the kitchen, and all of a sudden, I screeched in stress, and collapsed to the floor in a tantrum. I never felt so overwhelmed in my entire life, until that point
Gosh, it's such a strange mix of relief and frustration to hear this. Relief because there is finally a word that can explain one of my biggest struggles, frustration because I was left helpless and ostracized simply for displaying this symptom as I was growing up. I got my autism diagnosis at the age of 20 last year and I suspect I have ADHD too. That is one thing I wanted to say actually: The emphasis on routine in strategies that can help, made me feel hopeless, since I struggle really really bad with keeping up with routines. I try and I try- alwyas failing. I think Orion has already done a video on the relation between autism and ADHD but perhaps having a video on the specific struggles that can come from having these simultaneously would be a nice addition. I know I personally would really appreciate it at least, since it always seems like these two are at war witin me, whilst cancelling each other's symptoms out in other situations.
Thank you for this video. I've got big problems with this inertion. Basic things are difficult to do and I didn't know it really had a name.
needed this video right now. after my fiance and i moved last year we got a bigger apartment so we can have a room for our hobbies where the cats can't get to our stuff.
been struggling to get going to unpack those boxes and sorting it.
had times when i managed a lot and then times when i could even get going with small stuff..... now i know why.
thanks so much!
I didn't understand how people were able to respond so much faster than I am usually able to. This applies on jobs and interviews and neurotypicals just act like its the easiest thing ever. If you visibly think for any amount of time then youre an idiot and just serve as a treat to be toyed with until maybe you break.
I never knew this! I thought I was just getting burnt out on things all the time! This is so helpful! Thanks!
I hope you can do a video about the sleep problems that come with being autistic. I know I've had issues sleeping right since I was a toddler, my mom says she used to have to literally hold me down to get me to go to sleep after I stopped sleeping in a crib.. and now in my late 30's I sleep whenever I finally pass out and I never know when that'll be and how long I'll stay asleep for, even when I've walked two miles that day. (I can't walk further or my back throws a fit for days afterwards)
I hear you. Ive had hardcore insomnia for ten years and sometimes im up for almost three days unless medicated.
Agreed.....a video on sleep problems ...please
My daughter has major sleep issue...no med has helped...Dr said it's common for people on the spectrum to have sleep issues. I would be very interested to hear what Orion had to say on the subject.
Story of my life. I took out caffeine and started a sleep schedule but it only helps to a point.
Ever since my son was a baby, he too had sleep issues. He slept so little. Every doctor appointment I would complain about it. Every visit, the doctor tells you the range of hours the infant/toddler/child should be sleeping at this point. My son was always in the lessor part of the range if he was even on the scale at all. It took him a long time to fall asleep and then he didn't sleep long at all. At nap time he wouldn't fall asleep until just before dinner. Then he would be up all night. So I had to quit putting him down for naps before 6 months. He is 22 now and still dealing with the same. He has tried several medications, both natural and prescribed. None have helped. He never goes without though. I had him in bed by 8pm until high school just so he could get some hours. He has implemented a sleep schedule, as an adult, which has not helped either. It is worrisome because it is at this young age when longevity of sleep is so important. That is when the number of neuro pathways created and connected are the highest. With him having sleep issues during the development years means he will never have the number of pathways that he should have.
Thank you so much for this video. The description of work place advancement issues was spot on for me. And thank you for the strategies. I feel more "normal" when I listen to your videos. I can't thank you enough!
Thank you for this video. The morning routine has been the consistently most challenging for my autistic inertia since early childhood 😅
Thanks for the video. On the positive side of autistic inertia is we can be very good at doing long-term projects. Once we start a project, it is hard for us to stop. Thus, we can out work our peers. In these situations, we can be even more reliable than most other people in completing projects. I actually see this in school. I see students designated as ASD finishing school projects more often than average. May be its because once they get started, they won't stop until the assignment is completed.
Thank you so much for overcoming your inertia and doing this video! You explained it so well. It seems that there are many elderly poeple like me, especially women, that had no idea being in the spectrum and are discovering it late. Autistic inertia is paying into ones selfesteem - unfortunately for decades - getting you even more isolated and - desperate. So this information may not only improve every day life, it may be lifechanging and even lifesaving for some!
You put the finger on what I struggle the most. The story of my life for the past 20 years. I always thought it was depression, now I am stable in that regard. So, I could identify what it is that prevents me from just “do things”. Laziness is not an issue cause I came to understand I am exhausted most of the time. Or, resting so I don’t get exhausted ha! The question is how is inertia related to executive disfunction. Thank you! Your videos clarify a LOT of my autistic treats. 🙏🏼🌟✨✨
I have discovered a pattern in your videos. The pattern is that I watch one of your videos, and I relate completely. Three weeks ago I got a referral to book an appointment for an autism assessment...but have done nothing to book that appointment. I just paused the video so I can run out to my car to get the phone number and book the damned appointment. Thank you for being my external force.
EDIT: I just made the inquiry. Holding myself accountable.
Thank you for finishing this video. It was very helpful. 🙂
I have post-it-notes everywhere, with reminders for everything. Sometimes my to-do list is a grand total of two items, such as "Sign docs" and "make appointment". It can still take a few days to complete.
I'm glad you got through this.
I've been thinking of this in terms of Autistic Burnout, but I think that then leads to this.
I've been experiencing this my entire life... and was usually written off a lazy.
My daughter and I both struggle with this. Good tips to manage this issue. We’ve already been doing some of the suggestions, so that’s a plus.
As far as task switching goes, I find it helpful to recognise what 'mode' I am in at any one time. ( This is similar to mood, but not so emotionally driven) for example, sometimes my brain wants to tidy things around me, but I still have an outstanding task that's completely different. I will tend to give in to the tidying mode, and then after that's done, my mode tends to shift naturally. Another thing that helps is to spend quite a long time meditating on a task before doing it. Really exploring it in my brain, thinking of ways I could do it whilst pushing away the feeling of obligation. Quite often that's enough to get me going.
It's so cool to hear this. I've thought of it as "modes" before, as well, and other people act like this is crazy talk, lol. We speak the same language!
My mom has always said I run on momentum. I didn’t realize it was just another trait of my undiagnosed autism. Thank you for the work you do in educating everyone. 😊
100% resonate - think Inertial rumination... powerful.
Your video made me think about the Spoon Theory of energy and how quickly I run out of spoons on a bad day - especially if I've had to be really social!!
Inertia of motion is a body in motion tends to remain in motion *in a straight line* unless acted on by an outside force. I find i like to pick an activity or goal and keep at it until i reach a natural conclusion. Being expected to change tracks mid-process is frankly infuriatingly difficult and distressing.
Thank you for making this video. Makes so much sense.
Sometimes when I'm stuck in inertia and can't seem to make myself "do the thing", i have found just texting a friend that I need/want to do this thing but I can't seem to get up and do it, helps me find the momentum to start doing it. Often I've already started doing the thing before they even respond
I get this a lot. I spend so much energy on not doing stuff that needs to be done. It’s exhausting.
Omg this makes so much sense! Thanks for explaining this and giving skills to use. Great video Orion. I definitely benefit from being "rewarded" more often for each small task I get myself to complete
That moment when you focus on the big picture so much that when you break it down into smaller pieces it makes it all bigger, and routine also adds more things to your plate and you just eventually burn out even if you only do one habit a day (example brushing teeth). :)))
Exactly...If I can build my "own" Eco-friendly house....I can control my environment entirely. Plus, i will know precisely how its built, and how to maintain it, and how to repair it. Simple and efficient, unconventional and low cost and not stupidly built like a normal house.
I have autism and I experience this everyday. I thought this was just something that only happens to me. I didn't know it's a common thing for all autistic people.
Bloody hell, that video hit home, it made me reflect on all of the things I do and avoid doing. That I continually avoid doing, eye contact, new tastes, new things, new activities.... Thank you
Thank you. Sometimes I feel like I lose energy and motivation for seemingly no reason, and as a freelance artist, this really hurts my productivity.
Thank you so much for making this video
I am 40 years old woman starting to understand mi autistic condition, not yet with medical confirmation, but this autistic inertia describes perfectly all the problems I focus in my days. Even I have a work and a child and people encourage me for wath I do, I'm not capable to finish some things, not without a lot of effort, or even find some little time to.fix my routine in the way that I know it will be better to me.
Thank you very much
I’m great at setting schedules, goals, etc - with beautiful spreadsheets and reminders. But I am lousy at actually carrying them out.
'Multitasking doesn't exist.'
Exactly. 😂👍
I'm forever stuck doing the same activities, even when I'm alone with nothing the do, even when there's things i really want to work on. That comment about setting unrealistic goals every year and then ten years later going "oh, I'm still me" really hit home.
Walking our lovely dog helps a bit. Exercise and time with a creature that shows unconditional love is rewarding.
Thank you for the video. it touches on so many things that i feel, helps me process some of this stuff that i experience. im very stubborn and resist change. Who me? Thanks again Orion, for making these murky waters clearer. Your vids motivate me to move forward and not feel so alone in this. I despise multitasking, i can barely 'task', much less 'multitask'.
This describes me so well and helps me to understand that I'm not lazy. I just have autistic inertia. I will try these strategies. Maybe they can lessen my struggles and get me to do what needs to be done. Thank you.
Great advice, needed to hear this today
So good my man. Thank you!
Thank you. I needed to hear this today
I kept thinking it was impossible to relate more to what you said and then I related more to what you said. This explains so much, I'm sending this to everyone I know so they will stop thinking I'm lazy!!!
This is so real...thank you.
Thanks so much, just what I needed to hear.
Oh, my good god! Thanks to you, Orion, I finally know, what was always "wrong" with me. EVERYTHING that you say in this and the other video I watched from you IS describing all my - now I know: AUTISTIC"! 8-) - life experiences. I'm 43 years old and just realized, watching your Videos, that I have and struggled my whole life with the typical Symptoms and "behavior" and awareness of Autism! For some months, the thought, that I might be perhaps a partial or "part-time" autist, got louder and louder in my mind - not least thanks to my narcissistic wife, all the "hidden" extremes of my autistic reactions came fully to life and "on stage" in the past three years - and NOW I know, that this "part-time" thing was actually never gone and always fully present, just most of the times and since my childhood on more and more "self-managed" or managed by other people, knowingly or not really "knowing". After a while of living here in South Africa (and two weeks of unwilling fasting - SA IS different) I suddenly felt like watching myself doing things (or NOT doing things because of the missing inertia) and doing them in a way, I always thought, that I already managed to HIDE and "change" or integrate in an inconspicuous way of so-called "normal" life. The reason for this unexpected "coming out" could be just to live in South Africa now, where I finally had enough space (the next neighbours are far away) and "deregulation" to finally SHOW all the spectrums and extremes of my really unbearable autistic behavior (for Austria, where I come from, behaving like this would be completely IMPOSSIBLE without causing a never-ending Domino-Effekt of Misunderstandings, Police, Doctors, psychologists, legal and over time lethal drugs called "medication", and so on and so on!!) About the self-managing: changing things IS very difficult for us, so all my life I was obsessed with "truths" and "bigger rules of the universe" I can stick to, when I felt like there is chaos and change everywhere and I didn't know, what "is the RIGHT thing to do" or if there even IS a thing like that, while being completely unaware that I am basically programming myself to act NOT in an Autistic Way. HA! No wonder, this didn't really work, felt always fake, like a private religion, but was the only possible thing for me to do. Well ... autistic inertia wants to keep me writing, but I know this would be inappropriate. ;) Just so so so so so many THANKS for what you do, Orion (I really like your name! Here in SA we see him headfirst diving through the galactic disc, which sight is btw stunning here from my home valley at the end of the world), and that you made me not only aware of my Autism - sounds funny, but it is a HUGE relief to know! :-D - but also that there IS A COMMUNITY out there! Respect and LOVE for all of you! Siegfried
Thankyou for these videos 🙏
thank you for this video. Today I have been littery stuck sitting in my computer chair watching videos trying to push myself to start the day. Avoiding going to the P.O. and doing errands. I know once I start the tasks I'm fine, but that transition is just so hard.
Brilliant! Thank You!
Great video, thanks for making it.