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

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

• 0:01
  Hey guys, what's going on? So here's video about how social
• 0:03
  anxiety kicks my butt. So I was kind of basically at my
• 0:07
  desk working as I do. I'm working on my autism
• 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 YouTube are
• 0:23
  basically saying, Hey, we want you to come to this Labour
• 0:26
  conference event in Liverpool, be an ambassador for us and, and
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  do this, this, you know, whole YouTube thing and shake hands
• 0:31
  and stuff. And I was like, OK, look, I
• 0:34
  haven't been to an event since the lockdown's happened in 2020
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  and 2021. Kind of like a bit overwhelming
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  for me. And so this kind of gives me
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  social anxiety, right? So the first thing I need to do
• 0:43
  was really figure out like, I'm not going to be able to go and
• 0:45
  do this alone. So I text my friend Ian and I
• 0:47
  was like, Ian, dude, you got to come with me.
• 0:49
  Like it's going to be super awesome because I know he's, he
• 0:51
  likes labour and stuff. So it's kind of like good for
• 0:53
  him, but it would also be good for me because he could come as
• 0:55
  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 when
• 1:09
  we're kind of commuting home. And that gives me a lot of
• 1:10
  anxiety because I want to arrive on time.
• 1:12
  I don't want to be the Youtubers, although like being
• 1:14
  late to things and stuff like that.
• 1:15
  So we get in Ian's van, we drive and as we're driving, we hit
• 1:20
  traffic, we hit a traffic jam and we're like, oh, shoot.
• 1:23
  So then we have to go like a different way.
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  And as we go the different way, we're adding time to our
• 1:27
  journey. We re estimate the SAT NAV and
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  the SAT NAV says that we're going to be there dead on doors
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  opening. Now this gives me super bad
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  anxiety because I don't want to be arriving there as the doors
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  open because I'm not going to be there when the doors open.
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  I'm going to be arriving in the car park and then I'm going to
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  get to the venue. It's a whole faff.
• 1:43
  And when you arrive late to things, there's like a big faff
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  or a fuss about you because you've got that late and stuff
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  like that. Again, this actually so anxious.
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  I was like, Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness, we're going to.
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  Needless to say, we were trying to make some good time and we
• 1:54
  just have to bite the bullet there.
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  But I was feeling horribly anxious because it was the first
• 1:57
  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're kind of going for your neck and
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  you're like, so as we get closer to the actual event building, I
• 2:07
  realise that I only have the address for the event.
• 2:10
  I didn't actually have an address for any parking.
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  And usually big events like venues in cities, they're not
• 2:15
  usually, you know, surrounded by car parks and all the stuff.
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  So I was like, oh goodness. So I was like, oh Dang it.
• 2:21
  I had to then call my buddy who was a local from the area to
• 2:26
  find out where I would park. Like what's his recommendations
• 2:28
  for parking? And so you gave me some
• 2:30
  recommendations. I did like a quicker Google as
• 2:32
  well because if I can Google ahead of time, it helps lower a
• 2:34
  lot of my anxieties. And so I Googled it and we found
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  some packing. Again, social anxiety creeping
• 2:40
  up with me thinking like packing going on.
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  Like if I can't find packing for an event, I'd like to freak out.
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  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, but this
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  event was running from 6:30 in the evening until 10:30 in the
• 2:55
  evening. So it would be ripe 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
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  me so I could take it, but the only thing I 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.
• 3:14
  And I can just 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 people there and I
• 3:24
  looked where the bar was where everyone was getting drinks and
• 3:26
  water and stuff and 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 not going
• 3:32
  to say eradication, whole thing's already ruined.
• 3:34
  I'm kind of like a panic attack or like a meltdown in the middle
• 3:37
  of event and everyone's going to like laugh at me and there's
• 3:39
  going to be a whole thing. And you don't want to be that
• 3:40
  guy that draws attention to yourself, right?
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  You want to be the person who's there to do the things that
• 3:44
  you've been asked to go there and do shake hands and, you
• 3:46
  know, be a YouTube and all that kind of stuff.
• 3:48
  Just at my most like horrible crisis moment, the YouTube
• 3:53
  partner manager Stella, she steps in to save the day.
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  Stella's like, hey, what up, Don?
• 3:58
  I was like, oh, Stella, she's like, do you need a drink?
• 4:00
  I'm like, yeah, I'd love some water and like as if I'm magic,
• 4:02
  she disappears, come back with some water and then I'm able to
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  take my medication. OK, so now we're on locating so
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  million there in this event. There's a bunch of different
• 4:09
  stuff going on. There's like people speaking on
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  the stage, people like city calm, who's like the Mayor of
• 4:13
  London. But 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, I, I think that YouTube have such a big hold on
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  helping people with things like, you know, talking about mental
• 4:34
  health and social anxiety and all those kind of things.
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  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 hit watched my
• 4:44
  videos. So she was aware of me and aware
• 4:45
  of my work, which is kind of dope.
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  I was kind of taken aback by, but was really cool.
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  She was a lovely woman and I think we're definitely going to
• 4:51
  do some work in the end together.
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  So my anxiety at this point was kind of relatively, you know,
• 4:56
  kept on track because I wasn't overly anxious because I was
• 5:00
  getting the tasks and the goals that I needed to get done at
• 5:03
  that moment in time. And I take my medication.
• 5:04
  So it was kind of a good world for me.
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  So now I've shaken the hands of people that I wanted to meet
• 5:09
  and, you know, talk to. I'd shaken hands and met some
• 5:12
  really cool Youtubers who were like in the health niche, which
• 5:14
  is pretty awesome since I'm in the health niche as well.
• 5:16
  And it was just a really good day.
• 5:18
  I, oh, I also bumped into a guy called Ed Miliband who used to
• 5:20
  be the leader of the Labour Party, but he's quite a nice
• 5:23
  bloke. So I took a selfie with him,
• 5:24
  which I would say here, and me and Ed spoke for a little while
• 5:27
  because one of the constituents was autism.
• 5:29
  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.
• 5:38
  As the crowd started to kind of like dissipate around about, I
• 5:41
  don't know, 8:30 nine o'clock at night, meaning felt like it was
• 5:44
  our time to go because the crowds had thinned out when we
• 5:46
  were able to go. But before we went, one of the
• 5:48
  most interesting things happened.
• 5:50
  I actually stumbled across a woman and her partner who create
• 5:54
  these like little key chain opener gadgets.
• 5:58
  It's for people with bad fine motors, girls like myself and
• 6:01
  you know, key chains. You have to like use your nails
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  to open up that little like kind of like metal disc thing and
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  then you have to slide on a key. Well, that's always difficult,
• 6:07
  right? But this little gadget helps it.
• 6:09
  So I'm going to leave a link for them down in description down
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  below. So you can definitely check them
• 6:12
  out. Pretty amazing.
• 6:13
  Anyway, this is a really cool product and I was like, wow,
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  like you know, you just bump into amazing people here.
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  So when you come across benefits like that, your anxiety kind of
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  dissipates. And I feel like it's an exchange
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  of good experiences versus anxiety.
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  The more good experiences you can pack into an experience,
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  then the less anxiety you will experience.
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  I said experience of watches then I feel so much elation from
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  actually having to go do an event, overcome anxiety and
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  really try and kick some mental health issues in the butt.
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  You know, like taking control of the fact that like I haven't
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  been to a proper event since, you know, the lockdowns and
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  stuff. So to me this was triumphant and
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  it's kind of given me this like fires that way to do more of it.
• 6:50
  So guys, if you also suffer from mental health issues, I highly
• 6:53
  recommend using better help. It's an online therapy for
• 6:56
  counselling and other types of stuff.
• 6:58
  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 help 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
  I'll see you in the next one piece.