Aspiecast Episode 9 - Shame, More Inappropriate Statements, And Some Social Sills Books

10/20/15 • 26 min

In this episode of the Aspiecast, I mention factors that contributed to an 8 month period without producing an episode, along with some additional inappropriate statement situations, some comments on shame, and how some business books out there can be very useful for picking up social skills, especially one called 'Works Well With Others'.

Links to the books at amazon are at http://books.aspiecast.com .

Links to the books at amazon are at http://books.aspiecast.com .

Previous Episode

AspieCast Episode 8: Chemicals

In this extremely overdue episode, I mention my own experiences with what I refer to as chemicals, and how they have affected my social experiences over the decades both at work and outside of work. By chemicals, I mean to include drugs, caffeinne, and alcohol, all of which I've found can have profound effects on one's interaction with the world. In my case, I've been prescribed paxil, lamictal, and wellbutrin, and I describe the effects of each on me over the years as well as what can happen when relying on alcohol as a social lubricant.

The book I mentioned in the episode, Getting a Life With Asperger's by Jesse A. Saperstien can be found on amazon by following the link at books.aspiecast.com.

Next Episode

Aspiecast Episode 10 - A shameful interaction example

In this episode of the Aspiecast Podcast, I describe an aspect of my social interaction that I didn't consider until someone told me, which is that I can go from zero to 100 percent social familiarity immediately, when it comes to talking to someone I've not met before.

This feedback came after a social interaction I had in which I was trying to out-do a couple different people while having a drink (or three) at a nearby bar. One of the participants in these interactions mentioned to me afterward about this zero to 100 percent mode I operate with, and I realized that this very accurately describes how I approach social situaitons: Either I stay away because I don't know what to say, avoiding social interaction entirely in order to not feel helpless from having nothing to say, OR I launch into full-familiarity mode as if I already knew the other party in the conversation for a long time.

From thinking about the interactions that I describe in this episode, I realize that I wish I had a way to comfortably interact in what I call a social grey area, somewhere in between zero and 100 percent familiarity with another person. If I could do this, I'm guessing that lots of people would have not been taken aback throughout my life by me launching into a more familiar interaction than they were prepared for when meeting me for the first time. That more familiar approach, as if I were already a trusted long time friend, is probably causing some boundary crossings that other folks have not been prepared for when talking with me.

Check out some books and videos/movies for interesting info here: http://videos.aspiecast.com and also http://books.aspiecast.com (both actually go to the same place.)

Thanks again for listening!