The Autcraft store has been updated!!

Humans are social creatures by nature, seeking out others to share experiences with, to have families with and to live with. People tend to gravitate towards each other where the best clubs have the most people and the best cities have the highest population.

For this reason, most people think that socializing is something that just happens naturally. Other than dressing appropriately and making yourself look good in advance, really, socializing really doesn't take a whole lot of effort. Not in the sense that exercise or athletics does.

For people with autism however, it really does take that same kind of effort. It really does leave you feeling exhausted afterwards.

Last night I had a lady come and talk to me for 3 hours. I sat in my chair, she sat in hers and we talked. That was it. By the time I was finished, I could barely see because my eyes were so heavy, I could barely stand up because I was just so tired. A little bit of having to talk to someone, face to face, and I was completely drained.

This happens with many autistics yet people never even realize it. Sometimes not even the autistics themselves.

What most people take for granted, autistics have to constantly think about and measure and judge and do. For example, while talking to the lady last night, this is what was going on in my head:

"Do I look at that eye or the other eye? It hurts to look at both. Do I look at her forehead? Would she notice? Do I sit comfortably or straight up with good posture? Do I cross my arms? Rest them on the table? Do I scratch my nose or would it look weird? How long do I have to think about my answer before I talk? If I take too long, is it awkward? Why am I not talking? Why am I still thinking about not talking? Now it's awkward. What do I say?"

This stuff, as silly as it seems, happens over and over, for the whole 3 hours. You're worried about saying the wrong thing, you're worried about the impression you don't realize you may be making. You're worried about what she's seeing, hearing and thinking. You're worried about everything.

Christine Miserandino explains this quite beautifully with her "Spoon Theory" in which, each person usually starts the day with an unlimited number of spoons but for many autistics, we start the day with a certain number of spoons and that's it. As you go through your day, as you do things, experience things, feel things... you use up your spoons. The question being, do you have enough spoons to make it through the day or do you run out before you still have more to do?

To read the full theory, and I strongly suggest you do, click here: http://www.butyoudontlooksick.com/wpress/articles/written-by-christine/the-spoon-theory/

When you stop and take into account just how much truly happens in the day, it's a lot. I mean, really stop to think about it. Don't just skim over the little things like choosing which socks to wear, or having to pick up odds and ends or the random phone calls offering you cheaper long distance... I mean, add it up, all of it up and then include the big things like a job, school, social clubs and everything else.

I'm a grown man that has done a lot of interviews, done some public speaking and so forth, basically my life is an open book, and 3 hours of talking left me so drained that I could barely move. Literally.

If your children are in school, in clubs, sports or anything else and you you really take stock in everything that's going on, you will begin to learn and recognize when they are running out of spoons. You will begin to truly understand that those little things you've been taking for granted all your life are brutally exhausting on your kids.

Slow it down, take it a little easier, recognize what it is that's wearing you down and take appropriate breaks. Recharge.

It will take some practice but once you can recognize these energy draining situations, you'll be able to see them coming and if you can do that, you can start to schedule and organize your days accordingly so that you can manage them in advance and always end up with a spoon to spare.

So April 1st being April Fools Day Mojang decided to play a little joke on the world of Minecraft and made many users into villagers.  You can imagine my husband's surprise when he logged into his game to find he was no longer himself!

Do not stress if you are one of the lucky ones whom became a villager, your skin will return to normal before you know it.  No need to Modreq us or messages, there is nothing us as Admins can do, enjoy your day as a villager!  Have fun :)

As always; Be nice, use your manners and have fun!
~LadyCath