How Aspies find comfort

[artfull dodger]

Playing with my model trains, turning wrenches in the garage working on my antique tractor or if I really need to settle myself down, I cocoon myself with my weight blanket till I calm down. Mike

 

[DogwoodTree]

Hiking...preferably alone
Playing guitar
Distractions, like Star Trek or AC or other boards I frequent
Driving in rural areas
Yoga, grounding, thinking (not really meditation...just free thinking time)
Long showers
Folding laundry
Painting (as in, painting walls, not canvas...not good enough for that)

 

[BigTimber]

Healthy breakfast with coffee.
Healthy lunch with tea.
Hearty dinner with a bottle of cider in a clean house.
A nice walk my dog and an interesting podcast. Bonus if its raining.

Admittedly food is my weakness, so I try to stick with fruits and salads to keep the guilt off.

 

[Kyle.]

Laptop, ps4,tv. typical man ? jkjk
they kind of distract me from the outside world sometimes,
also my dog it's really weird because im sure it understands me
more than humans do at most times

 

[Myway]

Listening to music
Playing piano
Making up stories that don't make sense
Petting my cat
Being with certain friends

 

[Cuppa' Tea]

Music I like opera the best when trying to calm down.
Walks in the woods
Stimming
Social interaction with a good friend
Reading
Researching one of my special interests (philosophy, history, etymology, languages)
Watching/reading Sherlock Holmes (still my main special interest)

 

[Jorge_lou]

Biking helps me a lot.

Chilling in the hammock during a light rain also recharges me amazingly.

Being with my wife or with my nephew (who is also an aspie) makes me very calm too. Playing with children, in general, relaxes me too.

I also love videogames, but they make me anxious. So I'm trying to avoid them.

 

[Aspieistj]

More than anything else, I cuddle my dog if I am miserable. After that, I prefer to escape by sleeping.

 

[Knit Hat]

I usually absorb myself into my special interests, and God.

 

[Axeman52]

Walking - Part of my daily routine is to go for a walk, usually any time between 11am and 1pm.
Music - I spend almost all my free time listening to music. When I'm especially in need of comfort I listen to old Vinyl LPs, they sound so much more pleasing. One of my favourites at the moment is Be Bop Deluxe's Sunburst Finish album.
Guitars - Anything related to electric guitars is very enjoyable for me. Playing them, watching other people play them (Especially if they are good at it!), Watching youtube videos about them, talking about them on guitar forums, etc.
Video Games - More specifically, Final Fantasy. When nothing else works, Final Fantasy games provide the escapism I need. In fact, I only really find myself playing video games when I'm particularly stressed or anxious and nothing else seems to work.
Taking a bath - Usually I shower, but when I'm particularly stressed I tend to get in the bath. Although, showering can be relaxing too.
Research - Finding information, either about special interests or just something else that happens to have caught my attention.

 

[melame]

The number one thing that calms me is my husband. Just touching him calms me almost immediately. It is like what Rose does for Lyssa in the vampire academy books (weird, obscure reference, but it describes it perfectly). He doesn't have to say or do anything, it's just his presence.

Research is also really calming. At work, I love it when someone says, "I hate to bother you, but do you know how I can......." I love finding the information for them. It has also made me one of the most knowledgeable of my coworkers. And as a bonus, my customers love me and don't mind that I'm a bit odd.

Video games. Lately, I've been running low level stuff in World of Warcraft for achievements. It's relaxing to kill all of the bad guys with no effort.

Audio books. I am almost never not listening to a book. This is mostly to prevent issues. I work in a cube farm and, while it's relatively quiet, if I'm not listening to something, I am straining to listen to the conversations of others and worrying that they are taking about me. (I'm pretty sure they're not, but I have pretty severe social anxiety so my brain always goes there. I've also been in a situation where everyone was talking about me.)

 

[Manuheleku]

Playing with my phone, music, Lego, collecting stuff, Netflix, working on my cars.

 

[SingaSong]

Being in a natural environment like a park or garden

Being alone

Getting into bed - not nevessarily to sleep but because I feel safe and warm there (have had this since having depression in the past).

Having speech radio on. I don't feel as alone, but I don't have to interact with it.

Stimming - rocking

 

[Coupe]

Sitting on a couch with my laptop Googling things related to special interests or listening to music. Reading. Drawing. Going for a walk with my mom's dog. Spending time alone.Talking on the phone with my favorite aunt.

I also derive comfort from my comfort items and stim toys - here's a photo of some of my current favorite ones:

 

[Manuheleku]

Being in a natural environment like a park or garden

Being alone

Getting into bed - not nevessarily to sleep but because I feel safe and warm there (have had this since having depression in the past).

Having speech radio on. I don't feel as alone, but I don't have to interact with it.

Stimming - rocking

Maybe that's why I like going to sleep listening to talk radio!

 

[Alex Dame]

How do you find comfort during challenging times? In sharing what works for us, perhaps we can find commonalities, or remember some old favorites that have really helped us feel better along the way.

For me, comfort comes from:

My dog & cat-- spending time with them helps ease anxiety and lifts my mood.
Spending time in nature-- Seeing pine trees, the outdoor scents of fresh air, grass, trees, and fertile earth, hearing birds, feeling weather, all help me de-stress and re-connect.
Tea-- A hot cuppa, even just holding my warm mug in my hands, feels so comforting.
Hot showers-- soothing and makes me feel optimistic inside.
Exercise-- This seems to work mostly after I do it, brings my mood up, invigorates, and clears away some brain-fog.
Crunchy raw carrots-- it's a sensory thing, very calming to nom.
Stimming-- I'm often not aware I'm doing it when I'm home alone, but this is naturally optimal for self-regulating, soothing.

What works for you?

Well, I can only speak for myself here, but for me, comfort comes from two different things. First of all, I love animals, especially furry ones like cats or dogs. Petting animals is supposed to lower blood pressure and promote calm. I don't have any pets of my own, but at my general work, there are a lot of cats and an obnoxious-though-relatively-affectionate dog. Not having any pets, I sometimes supplement this need for petting with stuffed animals that, unlike REAL animals, don't squirm or try to bite or claw you. Of course, they're also not as warm, and they don't breathe... Anyway, the second thing is the main comforting mechanism for me.

Put in simplest terms, it's watching things that I have fond memories of, primarily cartoons and comedies. Watching something that I've seen before and trying to extract the humor from it is helpful when I need a laugh, and often it reminds me of the first time I saw it. Watching something non-comical or something new might be good for the soul, as long as it's heartwarming and/or sentimental, but I, personally, don't like anything too dramatic or tragic. Too easy to get too much into it. I also enjoy hot showers. That feeling of hot water against the skin after a long day is deeply relaxing. I also exercise regularly, and when stress comes from an overabundance of energy, relieving or at least channeling some of that energy can be very beneficial. Just have to be careful not to go overboard.

 

[Cosmophylla]

Having speech radio on. I don't feel as alone, but I don't have to interact with it.

Yes, I agree. I like having it in the background when there is nobody here but me. With my kids around or at dinner time it's too much, though! I always hear interesting things on the radio, too. Documentaries, arts news, philosophical discussions.

 

[Limited_Moon]

My little parrot - He gets all concerned when I'm sad and tries to cheer me up by playing games. It's hard to be sad when he's being so sweet and cute. It's gotten to the stage where my husband will just bring him over whenever I'm upset.
Tight hugs from my husband
Hiding under the covers in bed
Stimming - thinking putty is my favorite, and rocking.
My 'Comfort' DVDs - There are certain TV shows and movies I watch over and over again. They are the best for comfort. 'The Young Ones' is the most popular. I couldn't tell you how many times I've watched those. Thankfully it is also something my husband does, so we can comfort-watch our done to death favorites together.
Video Games - Again, the ones I've played over and over again are the best. Even better are ones I loved in childhood and teenage years. But any game I like will do really.
Being in Nature - Because it is pretty, smells nice and I feel I belong there. Also many of my special interests have been nature related.
Music - I don't leave home without my mp3 player, loaded with video game music, goth rock and 80's punk.
Drawing pictures - If I don't get too perfectionist about it.
Writing - Because feelings are always better out than in with me. They don't seem so nebulous and huge on paper.

 

[FreeDiver]

This is just me speaking personally. But one of thing I really like to do (As my user name implies.), Is the sport of free-diving. Free-diving is the closes thing to weightlessness without having to go into space. But whats really cool about it is, as you dive deeper, the increased pressure of the water pushes ageist your torso and produces the perfect hug effect. Of course, you got to get good at holding your breath for a long time. But in doing so. You learn to show your body down and relax, and that alone helps add to the calming experience of it.

 

[The Penguin]

For me is connecting with nature by camping and hiking.