Up and Down Week

Its been a week of highs and lows.

On Tursday I have to say that it was the former. I got rejected by the entertainment company that I had an interview with the week before - though that, in itself, was not a great disappointment (not sure that it was the job for me) - and I also encountered some difficulties - or perhaps more precisely, a misunderstanding - with a University with whom I had been discussing my Asperger Transitions Project.

By yesterday (Friday) however, things had picked up. On the Thursday evening I sent an e-mail to the University explaining that there had been a misunderstanding and why which they accepted and, so, agreed to come on-board.

What was particularly gratifying about the latter was that I constructed the e-mail with the help of my wife who pointed out some different ways to get my point across.

I suppose this comes back to the different way that someone with Asperger communicates. I have been very conscious of this for some time; indeed, I was reading a past piece from this site about Common Language:
http://aspergermanagement.com/search-common-language - and I continue to work very hard at it.

What my wife basically got me to do was respond the the person's points - specifcially. I also put the onus back into their court by asking what exactly did they want from me. What I think I achieved was clarity: I informed the other party exactly what they did NOT have to do, and got them to say precisely, what they wanted and was acceptable to them.

AS mentioned, I am working hard at the mode of communication and, importantly I think, listening to, and learning from, how others communicate. watching how others respond and react is an important component in all of this.

The other reason why I perked up yesterday was that I found a couple of jobs to apply for. Despite searching high and low on Thursday for vacancies I simply couldn't locate anything. When this happens I find it very disillusioning. If you are applying and have applications in, it means that you have something to look forward to; you also feel you are making some kind of progress.

So, the week ended on a much better note. The last two days have also reminded me of another important requirement from the perspectve of having AS: not to allow the points when I am disillusioned to mean I get personally low. I have learnt that when this does occur it can be very counterproductive: instead, its best to withdraw and let the feeling pass!