I was just writing an email to a friend about the discussion series tonight and had a startling insight.
What is the most common activity for kids to do when they're, well, kids?
They play.
But what happens when you're an undiagnosed Aspie who is in her own world with no way to connect to the world around you until you're far past the age where kids "play"?
You don't play. Like, ever.
I realize I have gone my entire life without ever to my recollection "playing" with anyone.
And here I am, desperately searching every corner of the universe for the answer of how to emotionally connect with another person. And I realize that that is only part of the answer.
When you play, you are most essentially and truly yourself, interacting with other people being their true self. When you play, there is a focus on the present and in developing or being in relationship with another person without words that I have NEVER EVER been able to grasp in my entire life. I keep using more and more words to try to grasp it, but you can't grasp an intangible feeling like "play" with words.
One of the topics tonight was about play, and that got me thinking about this. I wonder if there exists a form of play therapy for adults? Because I think a lot of people could use it.
I also wonder if the reason that people with autism so often seem to like puns (not all of them but a lot ) is because for many of them, it's the closest to "play" they can possibly get. I know it is for me. I love puns to pieces and I realize why now...It's so much fun to play. With words or anything else.
I had a dollhouse I played with. I had no shortage of games I played in my head. But solitary play is not anywhere similar to shared play.
What is the most common activity for kids to do when they're, well, kids?
They play.
But what happens when you're an undiagnosed Aspie who is in her own world with no way to connect to the world around you until you're far past the age where kids "play"?
You don't play. Like, ever.
I realize I have gone my entire life without ever to my recollection "playing" with anyone.
And here I am, desperately searching every corner of the universe for the answer of how to emotionally connect with another person. And I realize that that is only part of the answer.
When you play, you are most essentially and truly yourself, interacting with other people being their true self. When you play, there is a focus on the present and in developing or being in relationship with another person without words that I have NEVER EVER been able to grasp in my entire life. I keep using more and more words to try to grasp it, but you can't grasp an intangible feeling like "play" with words.
One of the topics tonight was about play, and that got me thinking about this. I wonder if there exists a form of play therapy for adults? Because I think a lot of people could use it.
I also wonder if the reason that people with autism so often seem to like puns (not all of them but a lot ) is because for many of them, it's the closest to "play" they can possibly get. I know it is for me. I love puns to pieces and I realize why now...It's so much fun to play. With words or anything else.
I had a dollhouse I played with. I had no shortage of games I played in my head. But solitary play is not anywhere similar to shared play.
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