Latest / Aspergers & Autism Podcast [The Aspie World] AuDHD / Autism Social Anxiety SUCKS! (Here’s Why)

Transcript

Autism Social Anxiety SUCKS! (Here’s Why) · Aspergers & Autism Podcast [The Aspie World] AuDHD

• 0:01
  Hey guys going on so here's video about how such anxiety
• 0:04
  kicks my butt. So I was kind of basically at my
• 0:07
  desk working as I do. I'm working on my waters and
• 0:10
  courses, which is super cool so and that's out super soon.
• 0:12
  So if you're interested in some of the new amazing things I'm
• 0:15
  doing, drop me an e-mail. So I'm sitting there and I get
• 0:18
  this like text message through e-mail.
• 0:20
  So it's like a bring from YouTube and usually basically
• 0:23
  saying, hey, we want you to come to this Labour conference event
• 0:26
  in Liverpool, be an ambassador for us and do this, this, you
• 0:29
  know, pull YouTube thing and shake hands and stuff.
• 0:32
  And I was like, OK look, I haven't been to an event since
• 0:35
  the lockdowns happened in 2020 and 2021, kind of like a bit
• 0:38
  overwhelming for me. And so this kind of gives me
• 0:40
  social anxiety, right? So the first thing I need to do
• 0:43
  is really figure out like I'm not going to go into this alone.
• 0:46
  So I text my friend Ian. I was like, Ian, dude, you got
• 0:48
  to come with me. Like it's going to be super
• 0:50
  awesome because I know he's, he likes labour and stuff, so it's
• 0:53
  kind of like good for him. But it would also be good for me
• 0:54
  because he could come as support and so then I could feel a
• 0:57
  little less anxious or at least lower the social anxiety, that
• 1:00
  experience at that time. So it was actually on a Sunday
• 1:03
  and so me and Ian set off pretty early because another thing is
• 1:06
  that you get all this kind of Sunday traffic on a Sunday we'll
• 1:09
  kind of commuting home and that gives me a lot of anxiety
• 1:11
  because I want to arrive on time.
• 1:12
  I don't be the Youtubers, all the like being late to things
• 1:14
  and stuff like that. So we get in Ian's van, we drive
• 1:19
  and as we're driving we hit traffic, we hit a traffic jam
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  and we're like, oh shoot. So then we have to go like a
• 1:24
  different way. And as we go the different way,
• 1:26
  we're having time to our journey.
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  We re estimate the SAT NAV and the setup says that we're going
• 1:30
  to be there dead on doors opening.
• 1:32
  Now this gives me super bad anxiety because I don't want to
• 1:35
  be arriving there as the doors open because I'm not going to be
• 1:38
  there when the doors open. I'm going to be arriving in the
• 1:40
  car park and I'm going to get to the venue to hold faff.
• 1:43
  When you arrive late to things, there's like a big faff for a
• 1:46
  fuss about you because you've got there late and stuff like
• 1:48
  that. Again, the same thing.
• 1:49
  So anxious. I was like, Oh my goodness, Oh
• 1:51
  my goodness, we're going to. Needless to say we were trying
• 1:52
  to make some good time and we just had to bite the bullet
• 1:55
  there. But I was feeling horribly
• 1:56
  anxious because it was the first event I hadn't been anywhere.
• 1:59
  It's horrible, isn't it? Like anxiety starts creeping up
• 2:01
  on you. It's like this like weeds and
• 2:02
  vines growing and they got it going through your neck and
• 2:04
  you're like, So as we get closer to the actual event building, I
• 2:07
  realized that I only have the address for the event.
• 2:10
  I didn't actually have an address for any parking.
• 2:12
  And you did big events like venues in cities.
• 2:15
  They're not usually, you know, surrounded by car parks and all
• 2:18
  this stuff. So I was like, oh goodness.
• 2:19
  So I was like, oh Dang it. I had to then call my buddy who
• 2:24
  was a local from the area to find out where would park, like,
• 2:27
  what's his recommendations for parking?
• 2:29
  And so he gave me some recommendations.
• 2:30
  I did like a quicker Google as well, because if I can Google
• 2:33
  ahead of time, helps lower a lot of my anxieties.
• 2:36
  And so I Googled it and we found some packing again.
• 2:39
  Such anxiety creeping up meeting like packing going on.
• 2:41
  Like if I can't find packing for an event, I'll freak out.
• 2:44
  It's absolutely crazy. So as we get closer to the
• 2:46
  event, I realized I had to take my medication, right?
• 2:48
  Because I take my medication at 8:00 PM every night.
• 2:51
  But this event was running from 6:30 in the evening until 10:30
• 2:55
  in the evening. So it would be right smack bang
• 2:58
  in the middle of this event when he took my medication.
• 3:00
  So I was like, Dang it. So I brought my medication with
• 3:01
  me so I could take it, but the only thing it didn't have was
• 3:03
  water or anything to take the medication with, right?
• 3:06
  But I didn't drink water anyway. So I was like, look in my head
• 3:09
  as soon as I get in there, I can get some water, I can take my
• 3:11
  medication and it's going to be absolutely fine and I can just
• 3:15
  get on and enjoy the event as it is.
• 3:16
  OK, So we walk into this event and holy smokes, guys, like, I
• 3:20
  kid you not. Like, there was like a bazillion
• 3:23
  people there. And I looked where the bar was,
• 3:25
  where everyone was getting drinks and water and stuff, and
• 3:27
  it was about 50 people deep in this line.
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  I was like, so I'm starting to freak out thinking, I'm going to
• 3:32
  say eradication, whole things. Are we ruined?
• 3:34
  Like kind of like a panic attack or like a meltdown in the middle
• 3:37
  of the van And everyone's going to, like, laugh at me and
• 3:38
  there's going to be a whole thing.
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  And you don't want to be that guy that draws attention to
• 3:41
  yourself, right? You want to be the person who's
• 3:43
  there to do the things that you've been asked to, go there
• 3:45
  and do shake hands and, you know, be a YouTube and all that
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  kind of stuff. Just at my most, like, horrible
• 3:51
  crisis moment, the YouTube partner manager Stella, she
• 3:56
  steps in to save the day. Stella's like, hey, we're up,
• 3:58
  done. I was like, oh, Stella, she's
• 3:59
  like, do you need a drink? I'm like, yeah, I'd love some
• 4:00
  water and like, as if I'm magic, she disappears, come back with
• 4:03
  some water and then I'm able to take my medication.
• 4:05
  OK, so now we're on. OK, So me and Ian are there in
• 4:08
  this event. There's a bunch of different
• 4:09
  stuff going on. There's like, people speaking on
• 4:11
  the stage, people like, said he can.
• 4:12
  He's like the Mayor of London, if you guys know who that is.
• 4:15
  And there's other bits and pieces going on.
• 4:17
  And then there was a talk from Alice Lomax, who is the managing
• 4:22
  director of YouTube in the UK. And my goal was to kind of
• 4:25
  discuss autism and mental health and that kind of stuff with
• 4:28
  Alice, because I think that YouTube have such a big hold on
• 4:31
  helping people with things like, you know, talking about mental
• 4:34
  health and social anxiety and all those kind of things.
• 4:36
  So I wanted to speak to Alice, which is kind of cool.
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  And to my surprise, actually, she came over and I was
• 4:41
  introduced through Stella, and Alice actually had watched my
• 4:44
  videos, so she was aware of me and aware of my work, which is
• 4:46
  kind of dope. I was kind of taken aback by
• 4:48
  this, but it was really cool. She was a lovely woman and I
• 4:50
  think we're definitely going to do some work in the end
• 4:52
  together. So my anxiety at this point was
• 4:54
  kind of relatively, you know, kept on track because I wasn't
• 4:58
  overly anxious, because I was getting the tasks and the goals
• 5:02
  that I needed to get done at that moment in time and I take
• 5:04
  my medication. So it was kind of a good world
• 5:06
  for me. So now I've shaken the hands of
• 5:07
  people that I wanted to meet and, you know, talk to.
• 5:11
  I'd shaken hands and met some really cool Youtubers who were
• 5:13
  like in the health niche, which is pretty awesome since I'm in
• 5:15
  the health niche as well. And it was just a really good
• 5:17
  day. Oh, I also bumped into a guy
• 5:19
  called Ed Miliband who used to be the leader of the Labour
• 5:21
  Party, but he's quite a nice bloke.
• 5:23
  So I took a selfie with him, which I once said here, and me
• 5:26
  and Ed spoke for a little while because one of his constituents
• 5:28
  has autism and we discussed my book and stuff like that.
• 5:31
  And FYI, guys, if you didn't know my book, Autism for Adults
• 5:33
  is out right now and you can get it from autismforadults.com as
• 5:38
  the crowd started to kind of like dissipate right about, I
• 5:41
  don't know, 8:30, nine o'clock at night.
• 5:43
  Meaning felt like it was our time to go because the crowds
• 5:45
  had thinned out when we were able to go.
• 5:47
  But before we went, one of the most interesting things
• 5:49
  happened. I actually stalled across a
• 5:52
  woman and her partner who create these like little key chain
• 5:57
  opener gadgets. It's for people with bad, fine
• 5:59
  motor skills like myself and, you know, key chains.
• 6:01
  You have like use your nails, open up that little kind of,
• 6:03
  like metal disc thing and then you have to slide on a key.
• 6:06
  Well, it's always difficult, right?
• 6:07
  But this little gadget helps it. So I'm going to leave a link for
• 6:10
  them down, description down below so you can definitely
• 6:12
  check them out. Pretty amazing.
• 6:13
  Anyway, this is a really cool product and I was like, wow,
• 6:16
  like, you know, you just bump into the most amazing people
• 6:18
  here. So when you come across benefits
• 6:20
  like that, your anxiety kind of dissipates.
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  And I feel like it's an exchange of good experiences versus
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  anxiety. The more good experiences you
• 6:27
  can pack into an experience then the less anxiety you will
• 6:30
  experience. Experience of watches then I
• 6:32
  feel so much elation from actually having to go do an
• 6:35
  event, overcome anxiety and really try and kick some mental
• 6:39
  health issues in the butt. You know, like taking control.
• 6:41
  The fact that like I haven't been to a proper event since you
• 6:44
  know the lockdowns and stuff. So to me this was triumphant and
• 6:47
  it's kind of giving me this like fires have it to do more events.
• 6:50
  So guys, if you also suffer from mental health issues, I highly
• 6:53
  recommend using better helped an online therapy for counseling
• 6:57
  and other types of stuff so you can go on there within 24 hours.
• 6:59
  Find somebody who's specific in like ADHD or autism who can give
• 7:03
  you therapy over the tablet or your computer or your phone.
• 7:06
  Super awesome. The link is down below and if
• 7:08
  you use that link it just helped me out a little bit.
• 7:10
  If you have fun and think this video is interesting, please
• 7:12
  share it. Love you guys.
• 7:13
  See you in the next one. Peace.