[Trigger Warning: Sensory aversion, OCD, from descriptions of dog food]

Mom seems to be convinced that since I’m highly intelligent, and I’ve used that to get over some of my Autism/Aspergers issues, I can use that to get over all of them. For instance, she wants me to learn to work with and use some dog food I find utterly repulsive without help, and is convinced if I just practice enough I’ll be able to do it. I can’t. I really can’t. I can barely work through it if I absolutely have to, but it’s still a stressful experience. I could somewhat manage dealing with that food when I just had to shake it out of a can into a bowl… but spooning it into the bowl, mooshing it together into a mound, and burying the dog’s pills in it? Shudders.

What do I tell her? She doesn’t seem to believe some things really are that bad for me. Being out in the rain without a raincoat or umbrella. Dealing with this particularly disgusting dog food. Cold. Pain (May also have some Fibral Myalgia to add to the fun with that). She’s been supportive mostly, but she… just doesn’t seem to get it sometimes. There are some things I just can’t work through or learn to cope with or adjust to.

Her excuse is always that I’m “going to have to do this someday.” Generally, the fact is either:

a) I won’t. There’s ways to work around this problem.

OR

b) I will, but if it’s a matter of such urgency that it must be done, I can put up with it enough to manage it ― it’ll be stressful as all get out, but when there aren’t any other practical alternatives, I really don’t have a choice. Doing it every day when I can avoid it accomplishes nothing but putting undue stress on me.