Autistic drive and perfection
A popular TV show in the 70's-90's was Mastermind, where contestants would appear as a subject matter expert from varied fields, including TV shows... There is a famous catch-phrase for the show which was coined at the end of the round, so if the presenter was in the middle of a question, then the timer went of, he'd say "I've started, so I'll finish...". I think a lot of daily activity and projects are like this for autistic people.
It's the day after the wood-working project. I remembered meds and to drink, largely forgot to eat. My digestive system went into full GET OUT mode in the night after forgetting to eat during the day, meaning I'd begun to burn some internal resources with the physical efforts during the day. Don't get me wrong, this is great for weight loss, just bad for everything else. Had a bacon butty for breakfast, and then nada, nowt, nil, nothing!
Didn't sleep properly the night before as the brain wouldn't shut up, and kept thinking of designs, measurements, timelines, and methods. Started the project, took around 7 hours with my level of inexperience (this is the 2nd woodworking project), remembered to drink (YaY!) during the time, but little else. I build an elevated freestanding deck in the garden, it works, but here's the kicker. I started, so I'll finish, this meant that I'd be on my knees to finish the project, so (again) ended up dizzy, shaking and weak as a kitten before the day's end. It's as perfect as I can make it, finished bar a coating in deck-oil which I couldn't do last night.
On the plus side, I'l learning by doing - there is no better method; another set of skills being added into the library to be pulled out when needed. What skill next? ;)
Everything ached this morning, and mentally... well until I'd had something to eat, and an energy drink, nothing was happening - it's closing on high-noon now, and I've only just started on the more mundane yet necessary activities, housework etc. I will eat today, I will eat today, I will eat today, I tell myself three times...
![[decking]](https://bear-images.sfo2.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/tismlens/decking.webp){kind=link}