My Neurodivergent World
Worldbuilding
When I hear some people discuss movies or TV shows, I hear a term: “worldbuilding” (Wikipedia link). The characters, settings, etc. are intentionally (sometimes, slowly) developed, so that spectators can understand who does what, where, why, etc.
In a parallel way, I feel that I’ve built my own (internal) world. I think that I did this, so, as a neurodivergent person, I can function in a neurotypical world. I work on developing internal conditions to support me with what I need to do (ex. minimizing, as much as possible, unnecessary thoughts, feelings and sensory input to find what is essential and helps), especially with writing more high-quality, “resonating” Dad On The Spectrum posts (Medium profile link).
Feeling Separation
However, in creating these internal states, sometimes, I feel some separation from others. For example, there is a lot of stimuli in the office. From my first day of partially returning to the office, I have used Beats noise-cancelling earbuds or noise-cancelling headphones (when recharging my earbuds) to maximize focus and minimize unnecessary stimuli.
Sometimes, I’ve heard fragments of conversations between my colleagues. Some might be about their latest home projects. Others might be about the latest episodes of popular TV shows. They’re discussing what’s going…
