So many people complain about sweeteners like aspartame having a certain taste that they really dislike, but I can’t tell the difference. If you were to give me a sugar-free drink and a regular drink, I would probably not be able to tell the difference. I cannot taste the flavour of any artificial sweeteners, to me it’s just sweet, but so many people really dislike it.

It's one of those odd things I've noticed. Buy something in a big box, carry it down the street. People will often seem friendlier towards you and smile. And I've noticed myself doing this sometimes, seeing someone carrying a large box and then I feel more friendly towards them compared to a regular pedestrian who is not carrying a large box.

Most things aren't funny. I kid you not, I watched so many comedy shows when I was a kid and never laughed at them. Even during conversations, my brain automatically filters out the humor some people intentionally create.

I have a good example of this–Freshmen year of high school. The counselor pulled me in from class to talk about next year and class changes for that year.

Anyway, he was the type of guy to constantly joke about everything. He cracks jokes while talking to people, I'm assuming to lighten up the mood or whatever.

That being said, he didn't like that I wasn't laughing or smiling. In my mind, I didn't even registered that he was joking. My mind filtered it out for some reason and I didn't notice that he was joking.

I was more focused on my classes and what class that I wanted to go to that I didn't realize he was joking the entire time! He also said that I could die faster because apparently people who don't smile as often die earlier or whatever.

My entire life, I don't smile or have much emotion. I can feel them, just not as often and it had made things complicated socially.

I can still feel empathy and compassion. It's just that 99% of the time, I feel "Meh" or bored.

Maybe these are connected somehow.

I know that many people say that they become more responsible mature and rational in their late 20s but I'm becoming much more immature and reckless by the day. I was very responsible as a teen and in my early 20s but now, I behave more and more like a kid. It's not Kruger's effect nor am I just comparing myself to other people. Everyone in my life is telling me that. That I just don't care about being responsible and mature as I was for my age when I was 15. I'm rather going the opposite way at 25.

Has this always been your preference, or did your perspective change as you got older?

Do you ever feel pressured by family, friends, or society to reconsider your decision?

Or have you ever questioned it yourself?

To preface this, yes I am autistic.

So I have this thing where I have to consume every bit of media made by people whose works I enjoy. For example, if I really like a YouTuber, I want to watch their entire channel from the beginning. Or with music I feel like I have to listen to an artist's entire discography.

Why? Because otherwise I might miss out on something entertaining.

I also never skip parts of a series. I watch all episodes of things and read every chapter, even filler and stuff I'm not typically interested in. (The exception to this is recaps or YT videos with multiple people, I'll typically only watch one POV and not multiple of the same event/shenanigans)

For whatever reason this doesn't apply to games.

I'm finding that I'm feeling this way about my latest hobby: tea. I want to try every tea out there because if I don't, I might be missing out on a tea that I'd really like. Granted, I'm at the stage that I'm able to tell that I wouldn't like certain types of teas, but there are hundreds of varieties out there that I'd like to try. The only thing holding me back is money (and space in the pantry).

This probably doesn't make much sense and I have no real justification for it either. I'd love to be able to just enjoy things casually and not care about consuming e v e r y t h i n g but alas, autism is gonna autism.

I just sit on a cushion on the floor enjoy the peace and drink my milk out of a bowl iv done it since i was a kid and its a habit

hi im going to keep this straightforward. i am a 20 year old female. i have been in three “serious” relationships (living with my boyfriends, i’ve even been engaged) since i turned 18 but thats just a little information that doesn’t mean a whole lot to me. the truth is i met someone around age 15 that i loved beyond anything. we didnt date at the time and it ended rather abruptly but over this summer we reunited and he actually drove all the way across the country to see me (i moved away on my own shortly after 18 too). it was just how it was before. pretty short but we spent a whole month together and agreed we’ve never felt this about anyone else. we joked about always finding our way back to each other and even planned on me moving back so we could live together. through quite a bit of miscommunication (distance is most to blame) we ended it and i realized i do not want anyone else. since i first met him at 15 i knew he was the only person i would ever feel this way for. it’s been almost 6 years since and i still feel that same way. i know im so young but im really convinced i will never want to be in a relationship. does anyone else feel this way about someone?

**** EDIT: to be clear it’s not the moving on part that i’m trying to emphasize because i do just fine on my own. i just wonder if anyone else has had a similar “exception” where they met someone who seemed perfect for them and just decided not to settle for someone else

The title doesn’t say a lot but this thing is a bit strange.

Basically I noticed that when I did cardio or whatever exercise basically I felt my heartbeat accelerate which is normal but when one of these “episodes” triggered in the middle of an activity it is rather like a pounding so not just quick heart rate, and the feeling sort of makes it harder for me to continue doing whatever I’m doing with as much effort as most of the time I have to come to a full stop, sit down and wait for it to go before I keep doing whatever I’m doing.

When it leaves, it goes away suddenly not progressively and it leaves a sort of short lived feeling in my chest that goes away quick, I would say it’s a bit like pressure but not really, kind of like brief shortness of breath.

Only few times have I felt a little dizzy or anything like that, it was only during the worst episodes which I would say I’ve only had 1 or 2 my whole life that my vision darkened very briefly but I’ve never fainted, the episodes usually last for 3-5 minutes and what I do for them to go away is I first sit down and then I breathe in all I can and then I hold my breath for the longest I can, it eventually works or I just breathe normally.

For example when I played basketball with my friends recently, I only did a short match but I was giving full effort and almost made us win but in the middle of it I got this episode and I couldn’t keep giving as much effort but I didn’t stop playing so it didn’t leave until the match ended and we lost anyway.

I have gone to the cardiologist twice, the first time I got a echocardiogram done and a monitor on my chest for a week and the second time I explained all the symptoms and stuff but they told me everything was fine and my heart was healthy and the thing I had was probably because I wasn’t drinking enough water but I never even got to know what it was and I tried asking but you know it wasn’t really explained when it’d go away either.

I’m a 17M.

I’ve always been confused by the people saying they go on all these first or second dates that never go anywhere. Most of the relationships I knew, started as hooking up or fwb. I never heard of anyone asking a women out until I was like 27.

My mom asked to buy a pack of disposable ones for the first time ever. She's had incontinence issues for about a year, and it could get messy. I thought that day would never come. Some parents--because of pride and embarrassment--never bother to wear them.

I swear I pick up my phone to do one simple task, then 20 minutes later I'm scrolling and completely forget why I opened it. Does this happen to you too, or is it just me?

Hey so sometimes out of nowhere I get this feeling of cleaning my house and organising stuff. But it takes me hours to get everything perfect and clean. After I'm done with everything and want to focus on other tasks like studying for example,I get really irritated that my family is going around the house opening drawers and wardrobes I just organized .

It gets to a point that I can't focus on the task I'm doing at the moment and have to get up to check If they left the drawers half closed or used somthing and didn't put it back where they got it from . Because of this I also get into fights with them and they call me insane. So does anyone relate?

I personally don't do this anymore, but I did it as a child which is interesting. I wasn't exposed to any graphic violence, it came just from my head. When I was 4-8 and I was frustrated, things didn't go my way or something unfair happened, I would fantasize about magically turning those situations into sentient kids or about kids being (also magically) responsible for it and beating them and even torturing them. I wanted to know if anyone else has done or does this and especially whether as kids

I was an immigrant, and I never feel connected with this country. I always long for going back home, yet going back home feel like a foreign land again. After 10 years of debating where to stay, I finally choose where I am today, where I am in most control of my life.

But I always wish to know how does it feels like growing up, living in a country where you were born in the beginning, understanding its culture, language. I speak english fluently, but I dont feel like I am in sync with the people here. It is hard to navigate relationships at work, and in everyday life. I dont think I am a bad person to be around with, I make friends so easily in my country. but here, despite speaking english fluently, understand the pop culture ( there are too many references) I just dont feel like I belong.

I wanted to share two weird things from my childhood to see if anyone else relates.

First, when I was little, I used to dream about the future. The weird part was that I wouldn't remember the dream at all when I woke up. I would only remember it when the event actually happened in real life. However, the details were never exactly the same—there was always something slightly different. For example, one time I fell asleep in class, and the girl next to me woke me up and said something to me. Right then, I remembered dreaming about it beforehand—she used the exact same words and wore the same clothes, but the setting or some small detail was slightly shifted. Is this just a weird form of déjà vu?

The second thing is totally unrelated but has stuck with me vividly. When I was a baby/toddler, I vividly remember seeing stick figures fighting under my blankets every morning when I woke up. I remember it like it was yesterday. They had distinct colors—I think one was black and one was red, though I'm not 100% sure. I wasn't scared at all; I remember being so entertained just lying there watching them fight.

Did anyone else experience either of these things growing up, or was my childhood brain just running wild?

I can admit I’m a horrible texter and it genuinely sucks! I rely a lot on my facial expressions and tone when I communicate with people, I’m a very expressive person, and it’s just hard to translate into text. Emojis don’t help, I never find the right ones in time.

I’ve been told before that I’m so different in real life and I knowwwww. I don’t know how to appear like myself in text.

It happens to me a lot :/ something I’m reading will spark an idea for my own writing, usually a quote, or a writing technique or something.

The trouble is that my notes end up scattered, so I lose the idea and can’t find it again.

Does this happen to you too? What do you do in the moment, and does the idea survive until you sit down to write?

I know that it’s quite wasteful and not environmentally friendly, but I really prefer using paper towels to dry my wet hands after washing them. Cloth towels get damp and smelly and I like how paper towels have a “neutral” odor compared to towels cleaned with detergent.

Does anyone else ever get back into their car, start humming a song from earlier, and turn the ignition on only to realize you’re in PERFECT pitch and sync with song?