3 strategies that have massively improved my life as an autistic person

3 min read

1. Cutting out coping strategies that were bad for me

Example: Alcohol consumption. I used to drink as a coping strategy for what ultimately boiled down to my autism... I would drink to calm my sensory and social anxieties and to get a break from my extremely overactive mind. But all drinking did was deteriorate my mental health.

Last June, I stopped drinking, and my mental, emotional & physical health significantly improved immediately... and my life completely transformed after that.

So cutting out harmful coping strategies is the first one that massively improved my life. The second one is...

2. Doubling down on positive and healthy coping strategies that support my autistic needs.

Example: I developed a morning routine where I eat my favorite "safe" breakfast, sit in my favorite comfort spot (my car), and engage in my favorite special interest topics.

This involves me scrolling through social media and consuming content related to my special interests, creating content for social media on my main special interest, which, if you haven't guessed yet, is autism and neurodivergence ...

And just, in general, operating on my own clock, at my own speed. It's one of my absolute favorite times of day because I literally control every aspect of it and get to be the most comfortable and happy version of my autistic self.

So the second strategy is really about finding those types of things that support and nurture your autistic needs... and fitting them in whenever and wherever possible.

Once you do strategies 1 & 2, you can do strategy 3, which is...

3. Riding the wave of what your brain is willing and able to do.

When you improve your mental health, your executive functioning usually improves with it.

So you suddenly have stamina for tasks you struggled with before.

Example: When my mental health is poor, my physical space is usually reflective of that. It tends to be disorganized and chaotic. I also lose my ability to organize other aspects of my life related to planning and organizing.

But when I'm doing well, I'm suddenly able to organize my space and do other tasks that felt impossible before.

So, these are the 3 strategies that have massively improved my life as an autistic person...

If you're autistic and find yourself struggling with your mental health, try doing an audit of your coping strategies to see which ones are hurting you and which ones are helping you.

Then pull back on the ones hurting you and double down on the ones helping you.

If you do this, your mental health should improve... which should lead to you having a better handle on your life in general.