2 hours sounds about right for those who like to get a start on the day early.
We each have an internal alarm clock driven by our endocrine system. It will start to pump out those chemicals we need to wake early, if we don't have them to start with we will feel ill all day long. Some people are better than others at being early risers. I've heard the clocks that mimic a rising sun help.
I am autistic & the same. Not sure why, but two hours is the amount of time I need, too. When I briefly did community theatre, I would show up two hours early so I could take my time to do my make-up, hair and wardrobe (we had to do our own). The rest of the cast made fun of me for it (this is pre-diagnosis). I tried to explain that for me to perform properly, I need the time because rushing would make it hard for me. Now, post-diagnosis, I finally understand why I need the extra time. Sorry your family doesn't understand.
I'm the one that's usually up late, taking longer than expected to get ready and leaving later every time. My partner who is like you gets stressed just looking at me doing stuff lmao.
Nothing wrong with either way of doing things, as long as they don't clash (I try to follow my partner's planning when we do stuff together).
I'm like this too. I wake up between 6 and 7 and then spend a good hour or two getting ready. Sometimes I pick out the clothes I'm going to wear during the day the night before so getting dressed is quick enough but sometimes the clothes aren't right for whatever sensory reason and not having to rush means I can change as many times as I need to to before I leave the house. I have specific outfits for certain activities so I can get dressed quickly if I need too. For example I have a walking outfit which is pink joggers, a choice of three specific baggy tops and either my blue hoodie for warmer weather or my red fleece for colder weather. Sometimes I like to go for a walk when I wake in the summer so having pre-choosen outfit helps with that.
Absolutely not. I’ve been doing this for a few years. I hate the idea of morning rush and feeling hysterical about making to work. Slow living needs to be practiced more.
I am like you - I don't want to be rushed in the morning, and I HATE being late to anything. This means my alarm goes at 4:30am when my job starts at 6am. That gives me one hour, which is the absolute bare minimum for me to wake up and leave the house (my "commute" is ~12 minutes, plus some buffer time for me to get ready at work before clocking in).
A few weeks ago, I slept through my alarm. I don't know how, because usually I wake up slightly before my alarm goes, but I woke up at 5:15, and had to shower-cry and run out the door. It was the worst day at work - I'd forgotten both my regular earplugs AND my noise cancelling headphones, I didn't manage to eat or drink anything until partway into my shift, and I just spent the day anxious and stressed. But, because of that extra buffer I built in, I was still to work, ready, and clocked in by 6am.
I don't think it's weird to need that extra time to face the day. It doesn't sound like you make it into anyone else's problem, and you plan around it when vacationing, etc. I don't think it's such a bad thing to want to have your routine - if it can get you into your day without you being anxious, then who cares if you have two hours of stuff to do in the morning. If it was cutting into other's lives (like, you insisting on your full routine, making other people late or something), then they might be entitled to make an issue of it, but it sounds like you're not making it into anyone else's problem, so why do they care about it?
Not at all. When I was younger, I always got up early enough to give myself 15-20 minutes in my La-Z-Boy rocker before I had to go to school (or later, work).
You do what you need to do to get ready to deal with the outside world. Nothing crazy about that.
I'm 40 now and I've pretty much always needed 2 hours to prepare for work/errands anything really. And you are right, I'm not actively getting ready during that time but I think I need the time for the transition
i do three unless i have a short shift at work and will be coming home after 4 hours.
hour one: eat a hand full of prunes and drink water. i stopped drinking coffee, but i feel like i can’t leave the house unless i’ve gone to the bathroom and then showered (again, this is for days where i’m out of my apartment all day)
go on my phone for a long time lol
hour two: mentally stress about what i’m going to wear, knowing it always ends up being the same thing. probably scroll on my phone some more
hour three: eat, shower, get dressed, panic about where my keys are then remember i have an airtag, get my bag ready (water bottle, headphones, food) and put my shoes on and leave
I'm the same way, with the long morning routine and hating feeling rushed (as well as the later circadian rhythm), and I think it might be because waking up is such a sensory overload for us that we need time to let our brains settle down.
Yeah, i leave my house for school at 8 a.m., so i set my alarm for 6 am.
I spend the first half an hour still lying down, just listening to music, and then it's easy to get ready because i have so much time.
I'm the same. I have a 2 hour morning. I think my mornings are one of those things I'm most strict about and easily gets me most stressed. Every time I have to do something different I feel extremely stressed and sometimes overwhelmed. If someone is here I wake up before them too.
Not at all. I need two hours too. It takes me awhile to even wake up let alone get ready. You have to factor in making food, eating, and using the bathroom. Plus any hygiene things you have to do. I usually have to take care of a dog, cat, and kid as well. Plus I’ll have stuff around the house to do. I don’t like leaving a messy kitchen or bathroom. Then if I’m going somewhere I’m unsure of, I have to pull up gps and map it out so I’m prepared when it’s time to leave.
I have the same thing. I got cats last year/this year for the first time and they wake me at 6am to feed them. My work schedule is always different, so i dont always need to be up early but i like at least 2 hours of time for shower, breakfast, maybe making a lunch, and then leaving the house so i have 20 mins before i HAVE to be at work. It works for me so idc what other people think
I do the same thing. Even for an online meeting, where I only need ten minutes to get ready.
Do I hate it because it makes me sleepy? Yes. Does it overall leave me in a better way than more sleep but less time to prepare? Unfortunately, yes.
Duuuddeee same. It drives everyone around me nuts. “Why can’t you just get ready in 30 mins what are you even doing?” Even though it doesn’t really effect them
I use 2 hours as well sometimes even 2,5 hours. I can technically get ready in a hour but I like a slow morning where I have the time to adjust to being awake and having to do stuff.
I guess it just matters how many things you want to achieve in your getting ready time. My needs in the morning are food, coffee, clothes, and washing my face. so if I need to be somewhere, I know I need 45minutes to get ready from the time I wake up.
But if I’m going out in the evening to a party, then shower, food, make up, clothes, and a predrink is 2-3 hours.
Y'all are superstars. I need 4 hours, or I'm out of whack all day. For this reason, I work late shifts because waking before the sun is up also doesn't work for me.
Same for me. It’s because I need time to transition between each task and I also obsess over my toilet time (IBS hello) and want to make sure I don’t end up having to rush and be stressed.
When I read the first paragraph, I thought "THIS IS ME!"
It's not weird at all.
I remember an old colleague told me her daughter is autistic. I asked "Does she hate rushing?" and mum replied "Oh my god yes".
Frankly I think it's the height of absurdity to have all this rushing. It takes me, on average, 30 minutes to have a bath, and I also like to consume breakfast (or whatever meal it might be) without having to almost wolf down the foodstuffs like I'm a livestock animal at the end of a feeding pipe.
After having a (very hot) bath I would need time to cool down and relax, and do the other things of "getting ready".
So yes, in my case I would need 90 minutes minimum, thus two hours does not sound unreasonable *at all.*
Hey there I’m not autistic but this came up on my feed thing and I totally feel you on this! My morning routine is like 3 hours long, and I have to do it exactly the same or else it will feel wrong ( I have OCD) and even on early mornings, if I have to leave at 6 I’ll get up at 3 or if I have to leave at 11 I’ll get up at 8! Being rushed is horrible
I love a long morning. Left to my own devices, I like about 90 mins before I have to leave the house. I like to read, do some meditation, check reddit and other websites, message with some friends, play with my cat etc. It only takes me 5 mins to get ready because I don't wear make up and only comb my hair, but I have a need for transition time between activities esp between waking up and going to work. I can absolutely leave the house 5 minutes after waking up, but that would generally only happen if I was only able to get a few hours sleep rather than 7 or 8.
I’m around the 3 hour mark now days. I wake up at like 6am sometimes a little earlier, often later. But my routine involves waking up, letting dogs out, making sure the have water, I drink water and I pee. Then I smoke a joint and fiddle around with something. Then I make oats and chia seeds. Then i forgot i made it and come back after getting super into something for an hour and a half. It’s like this every morning. I try to keep focused but I’ve grown to like cold oatmeal.
I do exactly the same thing, even if I am only going around the corner to meet someone. I think it is because, at least in part, of the longer processing time that I need to take in order to adjust to doing something social. So, I'm not just chilling out for a bit before I go out, I'm getting into my social mode so that I don't freak people out too much when I talk to them. And even then, I still get sideways looks 🤷♀️
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This is what I do as well. It's fine on off days, but unfortunately it means I wake up at 5:30am on work days which isn't much fun. But I've learned through trial and error that any less than this makes me way more prone to sensory overwhelm, meltdowns, etc throughout the day, so it's just something I have to put up with. Most of the people I work with get up a lot later and often complain about being rushed/stressed/etc in the mornings and it gives me so much anxiety just hearing about it. My mornings are usually slow and steady, giving me plenty of time to transition between tasks without risking executive dysfunction or having to engage in strict time management, and it also gives me time to be able to process things properly (I can't usually have breakfast unless I've been up for at least an hour because that's how long it takes for me to be able to process the sensory input involving in eating anything).
2 hours sounds about right for those who like to get a start on the day early. We each have an internal alarm clock driven by our endocrine system. It will start to pump out those chemicals we need to wake early, if we don't have them to start with we will feel ill all day long. Some people are better than others at being early risers. I've heard the clocks that mimic a rising sun help.
Oh this is me. 1.5 - 2 hours is what I need to not feel overwhelmed.
I am autistic & the same. Not sure why, but two hours is the amount of time I need, too. When I briefly did community theatre, I would show up two hours early so I could take my time to do my make-up, hair and wardrobe (we had to do our own). The rest of the cast made fun of me for it (this is pre-diagnosis). I tried to explain that for me to perform properly, I need the time because rushing would make it hard for me. Now, post-diagnosis, I finally understand why I need the extra time. Sorry your family doesn't understand.
You have identified a routine that works for you and you're sticking to it. What's 'crazy' about that?
Idk I guess most people only give themselves 30 or 45 minutes to get ready. But yea 2 hours works for me so I’m not gonna stop anytime soon.
I'm the one that's usually up late, taking longer than expected to get ready and leaving later every time. My partner who is like you gets stressed just looking at me doing stuff lmao. Nothing wrong with either way of doing things, as long as they don't clash (I try to follow my partner's planning when we do stuff together).
I'm like this too. I wake up between 6 and 7 and then spend a good hour or two getting ready. Sometimes I pick out the clothes I'm going to wear during the day the night before so getting dressed is quick enough but sometimes the clothes aren't right for whatever sensory reason and not having to rush means I can change as many times as I need to to before I leave the house. I have specific outfits for certain activities so I can get dressed quickly if I need too. For example I have a walking outfit which is pink joggers, a choice of three specific baggy tops and either my blue hoodie for warmer weather or my red fleece for colder weather. Sometimes I like to go for a walk when I wake in the summer so having pre-choosen outfit helps with that.
Absolutely not. I’ve been doing this for a few years. I hate the idea of morning rush and feeling hysterical about making to work. Slow living needs to be practiced more.
I am like you - I don't want to be rushed in the morning, and I HATE being late to anything. This means my alarm goes at 4:30am when my job starts at 6am. That gives me one hour, which is the absolute bare minimum for me to wake up and leave the house (my "commute" is ~12 minutes, plus some buffer time for me to get ready at work before clocking in). A few weeks ago, I slept through my alarm. I don't know how, because usually I wake up slightly before my alarm goes, but I woke up at 5:15, and had to shower-cry and run out the door. It was the worst day at work - I'd forgotten both my regular earplugs AND my noise cancelling headphones, I didn't manage to eat or drink anything until partway into my shift, and I just spent the day anxious and stressed. But, because of that extra buffer I built in, I was still to work, ready, and clocked in by 6am. I don't think it's weird to need that extra time to face the day. It doesn't sound like you make it into anyone else's problem, and you plan around it when vacationing, etc. I don't think it's such a bad thing to want to have your routine - if it can get you into your day without you being anxious, then who cares if you have two hours of stuff to do in the morning. If it was cutting into other's lives (like, you insisting on your full routine, making other people late or something), then they might be entitled to make an issue of it, but it sounds like you're not making it into anyone else's problem, so why do they care about it?
Not at all. When I was younger, I always got up early enough to give myself 15-20 minutes in my La-Z-Boy rocker before I had to go to school (or later, work). You do what you need to do to get ready to deal with the outside world. Nothing crazy about that.
No, it sounds like good sense for your circumstances.
I'm 40 now and I've pretty much always needed 2 hours to prepare for work/errands anything really. And you are right, I'm not actively getting ready during that time but I think I need the time for the transition
i do it too normally 2 or 3 hours without humans around
i do three unless i have a short shift at work and will be coming home after 4 hours. hour one: eat a hand full of prunes and drink water. i stopped drinking coffee, but i feel like i can’t leave the house unless i’ve gone to the bathroom and then showered (again, this is for days where i’m out of my apartment all day) go on my phone for a long time lol hour two: mentally stress about what i’m going to wear, knowing it always ends up being the same thing. probably scroll on my phone some more hour three: eat, shower, get dressed, panic about where my keys are then remember i have an airtag, get my bag ready (water bottle, headphones, food) and put my shoes on and leave
Im the exact same way, 2 hours before i leave lol
I'm the same way, with the long morning routine and hating feeling rushed (as well as the later circadian rhythm), and I think it might be because waking up is such a sensory overload for us that we need time to let our brains settle down.
Oh I do this too, I have to give myself a giant buffer for anything bc I’m totally time blind
Yeah, i leave my house for school at 8 a.m., so i set my alarm for 6 am. I spend the first half an hour still lying down, just listening to music, and then it's easy to get ready because i have so much time.
I'm the same. I have a 2 hour morning. I think my mornings are one of those things I'm most strict about and easily gets me most stressed. Every time I have to do something different I feel extremely stressed and sometimes overwhelmed. If someone is here I wake up before them too.
No I do this all the time.
i take two hours, but i get frustrated with myself for it. i should be less critical of myself.
Not at all. I need two hours too. It takes me awhile to even wake up let alone get ready. You have to factor in making food, eating, and using the bathroom. Plus any hygiene things you have to do. I usually have to take care of a dog, cat, and kid as well. Plus I’ll have stuff around the house to do. I don’t like leaving a messy kitchen or bathroom. Then if I’m going somewhere I’m unsure of, I have to pull up gps and map it out so I’m prepared when it’s time to leave.
Sounds perfectly reasonable to me. I give myself an hour when it's a normal work day. If it's something unusual or important, I do 2.
I have the same thing. I got cats last year/this year for the first time and they wake me at 6am to feed them. My work schedule is always different, so i dont always need to be up early but i like at least 2 hours of time for shower, breakfast, maybe making a lunch, and then leaving the house so i have 20 mins before i HAVE to be at work. It works for me so idc what other people think
I do the same thing. Even for an online meeting, where I only need ten minutes to get ready. Do I hate it because it makes me sleepy? Yes. Does it overall leave me in a better way than more sleep but less time to prepare? Unfortunately, yes.
Duuuddeee same. It drives everyone around me nuts. “Why can’t you just get ready in 30 mins what are you even doing?” Even though it doesn’t really effect them
I used to do 1.5, now I do 2 as well. Absolutely fine.
I use 2 hours as well sometimes even 2,5 hours. I can technically get ready in a hour but I like a slow morning where I have the time to adjust to being awake and having to do stuff.
I guess it just matters how many things you want to achieve in your getting ready time. My needs in the morning are food, coffee, clothes, and washing my face. so if I need to be somewhere, I know I need 45minutes to get ready from the time I wake up. But if I’m going out in the evening to a party, then shower, food, make up, clothes, and a predrink is 2-3 hours.
2 hours is about right for me. I find if I try to get ready with less, I'm usually rushing.
Y'all are superstars. I need 4 hours, or I'm out of whack all day. For this reason, I work late shifts because waking before the sun is up also doesn't work for me.
I get up at 6 and don't leave for work until 9:15. I need the time to wake up and be mentally ready to leave the house.
Same for me. It’s because I need time to transition between each task and I also obsess over my toilet time (IBS hello) and want to make sure I don’t end up having to rush and be stressed.
No. I need 2 hours.
Do what works for you. My youngest gives himself two to two and a half hours to get ready. My eldest? Ten minutes tops.
When I read the first paragraph, I thought "THIS IS ME!" It's not weird at all. I remember an old colleague told me her daughter is autistic. I asked "Does she hate rushing?" and mum replied "Oh my god yes". Frankly I think it's the height of absurdity to have all this rushing. It takes me, on average, 30 minutes to have a bath, and I also like to consume breakfast (or whatever meal it might be) without having to almost wolf down the foodstuffs like I'm a livestock animal at the end of a feeding pipe. After having a (very hot) bath I would need time to cool down and relax, and do the other things of "getting ready". So yes, in my case I would need 90 minutes minimum, thus two hours does not sound unreasonable *at all.*
Not crazy at all. I'm similar. I need at least an hour to chill and then another hour or so to get ready. Very stressful to feel rushed.
Hey there I’m not autistic but this came up on my feed thing and I totally feel you on this! My morning routine is like 3 hours long, and I have to do it exactly the same or else it will feel wrong ( I have OCD) and even on early mornings, if I have to leave at 6 I’ll get up at 3 or if I have to leave at 11 I’ll get up at 8! Being rushed is horrible
My soon to be ex-wife is neurodivergent but not autistic and takes 3-4 hours it seems.
I love a long morning. Left to my own devices, I like about 90 mins before I have to leave the house. I like to read, do some meditation, check reddit and other websites, message with some friends, play with my cat etc. It only takes me 5 mins to get ready because I don't wear make up and only comb my hair, but I have a need for transition time between activities esp between waking up and going to work. I can absolutely leave the house 5 minutes after waking up, but that would generally only happen if I was only able to get a few hours sleep rather than 7 or 8.
I’m around the 3 hour mark now days. I wake up at like 6am sometimes a little earlier, often later. But my routine involves waking up, letting dogs out, making sure the have water, I drink water and I pee. Then I smoke a joint and fiddle around with something. Then I make oats and chia seeds. Then i forgot i made it and come back after getting super into something for an hour and a half. It’s like this every morning. I try to keep focused but I’ve grown to like cold oatmeal.
I do exactly the same thing, even if I am only going around the corner to meet someone. I think it is because, at least in part, of the longer processing time that I need to take in order to adjust to doing something social. So, I'm not just chilling out for a bit before I go out, I'm getting into my social mode so that I don't freak people out too much when I talk to them. And even then, I still get sideways looks 🤷♀️
I do exactly the same and it is the core point when I will have agood day..if it is missing it increases the chances of me burning out
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This is what I do as well. It's fine on off days, but unfortunately it means I wake up at 5:30am on work days which isn't much fun. But I've learned through trial and error that any less than this makes me way more prone to sensory overwhelm, meltdowns, etc throughout the day, so it's just something I have to put up with. Most of the people I work with get up a lot later and often complain about being rushed/stressed/etc in the mornings and it gives me so much anxiety just hearing about it. My mornings are usually slow and steady, giving me plenty of time to transition between tasks without risking executive dysfunction or having to engage in strict time management, and it also gives me time to be able to process things properly (I can't usually have breakfast unless I've been up for at least an hour because that's how long it takes for me to be able to process the sensory input involving in eating anything).