As well as my anxiety and depression I also have Aspergers syndrome. I shall not go into all the symptoms of Aspersers but focus on just one, which is the purpose of this blog. With Aspergers you are obsessed with routine. If you are doing something very familiar to you, you can cope with most things however once you break from that routine you fall into severe anxiety.

2Pear (combo)
As I type this I am fighting to keep my heart rate down. I also suffer with a reconstructed ankle after a ladder accident many years ago and sometimes it is more painful than other times. Today is one of those days and I have been forced into missing my daily workout. To help manage my anxiety and depression I have a hard workout each morning to help balance the chemicals in my head. I should, in theory, be pleased to have a day off from the toil of the gym but it could not be further from the truth.
As soon as I changed my routine I felt peculiar, not in trouble, but “strange”. I am now half an hour out of my routine and I feel quite ill. I have taken up a set of worry beads and are fiddling with them in my free hand (one of the benefits of typing with just one finger!). The effect was dramatic, within a second or two I felt calmer, not “out of the woods” but definitely improving. I shall stop typing for a minute and concentrate on relaxing with my worry beads. I am favouring a 2Pear (combo) at the moment and just a couple of minutes as passing each stone down the chain extremely slowly has made me feel so much better.
If you suffer from Asperger’s why not give a set of worry beads a try. Whilst we would all like to stay in our routines life means it is just not possible and using a set of worry beads to calm you when out of your comfort zone I assure you will work.
Kevin
The English Worry Bead Co
kevin@englishworrybeads.uk