5 Tips for Surviving Assemblies and Meetings

If your like me, attending school assemblies and other kinds of meetings is a monumental challange. While "spirit week" type things are enjoyable and fun to most people, it's probably the opposite for you. With my school having their spirit week now, I think it's a good time to write an article on surviving assemblies.

Before I begin, I would like to say that last thursday of spirit week, I went to the first spirit week event, a complete new thing for me. I used all the following methods, and I suprised even myself with how well I did.

1 - Be Respectful
While not a step directly related to surviving assemblys, it goes without saying that being respectful helps people around you be more inclinded to help you. Having teachers who are willing to make some accommodations, gives you the upper hand, so to speak.

2 - Have a backup plan
Don't go into an assembly without a fall-back plan to kick in if you can't handle it. Try talking to teachers, or even the principal, and ask if you can have somewhere where you can go to cool of f if the assembly gets to you.

3 - Sit near an end (have an escape route)
If you can, and you should do what you need to in order to make sure you can, sit at the end of a row. I find that when I sit near the edge of a row I know I can leave subtly and easily whenever I need to. It also really helps because there are less people sitting next to you, even if the rest of the row is full.

4 - Don't stress out
Stressing out just makes things worse. The best mind set to have is one of determination, but levelheadedness also. If you aren't ready to go to a pep rally, it's not the end of the world. You can always try again later. By the same token, take your victories in steps if you have to. Even going to the assembly for seconds is still incredibly brave, and if you can do that, you should be proud. Even if you don't stay for the whole assembly, any amount of time you spend, whether that's 2 seconds, or 2 hours is still progress.

5 - Bring ear-buds or earplugs
Having something to blot out some of the noise helps a lot. When I went to the assembly, I brought some ear-buds and put some music on. It did the trick! I couldn't hear any of the cheering or yelling. The whole point of attending these assemblies is to get something out of them, so using ear-buds the whole time is unpractical. They do help immeasurably before and after the event, when it's the loudest.

This is Jordan from teenaspergers.blogspot.com signing off.

The importance of Perception and Atittude

With my experience dealing with Aspergers, and life in general, I have discovered just how significantly your own perception can affect, and even alter the things you experience. Before my school started back up for the year, for about a week, I was rather anxious about what might happen. Would I get stuck in a back seat? Would I act socially awkward? Would I...

The point being, I was freaking out! Every day that passed, I got worse, until the very thought of school would make me anxious. The day before school, I decided I was not going to let myself get upset anymore. I told myself I would be fine, and you know what? It worked. There were a few scheduling problems, one of which was very frustrating, but I refused to let it get to me.

Another time was when I started working on this article. I was sitting in my health class, with nothing to do. Instead of getting upset, I decided to write this. The class seemed to speed up, and it was over really soon. I was able to get through the class without it tainting the rest of my day. It could have easily gone south, but It didn't. The reason for that, is that I didn't let myself get upset; I used that time to be productive rather than simply waste the (valuable) time.

I'd like to call this a technique, but it's not one. It's a mindset. It's realizing that you are the most important factor in what your life is like. I've had my fair share of feeling hopeless because of my Aspergers before, but thinking this was has really helped. I've made this into a mantra for myself. If you've never heard of mantras before, they are a powerful way of affecting the subconscious.  A mantra is a single thought, (or in some cases, an emotion) that you repeat in your mind. An example would be me verbalizing "I'm in control" whilst I'm having an anger outburst. Try it!

So much of a problem is in how you perceive it. When I have an argument with my Mom, for instance, it may seem like I'm totally right, but I try to give her the benefit of the doubt that I may be misjudging the situation. A lot of the time, trying to see the situation from her perspective allows me to calm down, and stop arguing. Instead of staying in the rut of my default perception, I try to see the situation in a more manageable way.

Sometimes for me, If I focus on my intellectual mind rather than my emotional mind, I can work my way through emotional situations. It's less a "look for a way to be better" mindset, and more of a "am I entitled to be angry?". I tend to get angry too often, so I try to evaluate my anger. Just using this as an example, it's fine to get angry as long as it's not out of proportion. That's what I try to remember when I'm upset. It helps for me to gauge how angry I am, whether that's a 1-10 scale, or a percentage of how angry I could be. I also decide how much anger I should have. If they don't match up, then I had a defective reaction. Just knowing that helps, because it's altering my perception.

Finally, and to wrap this post up, in order to do this, you have to actively be bettering yourself. When I was in class that one time, I didn't just randomly think of working on my blog. I thought of ways that I could use the time I had. So, when you have a problem, look for a way to make it better.

This is Jordan from teenaspergers.blogspot.com signing off.