Hurdles

~ Clearly Muddled Blog ~

My autistic son Josh told me that he feels like he’s running a hurdle race on the way to start the main race. The main race is whatever he’s required to do on any given day.

That sounds exhausting.

The derailment isn’t the “thing” or “main event”- it shows up before anyone or anything else. It arrives before he wipes the sleep from his eyes and his feet hit the floor. The hurdles go by many descriptors…confusing context, interpreting meaning, reading facial expressions, hypersensitivity, managing conversations,  and too many more. And it’s all cloaked in the fear of getting it wrong.

I get crabby sometimes when I have to remind Josh over and over again of the things he forgets to do. I’ve unintentionally expected him to run the race like everyone else.  If I had to jump endless hurdles like he does, I’d be face planted on the ground…but here he is, showing up, standing tall. That’s the marathon.

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Listen to the Podcast: Josh Has Autism #126: Running The Race | https://sonyaking.com/josh-has-autism-126-running-the-race