Was talking the other day with someone and the topic of happy places came up. Like, places you have a good memory of that you can go back to if you feel down. I couldn’t imagine a happy place at that moment but I just figured out my happy place.
It’s a public natural swimming pool made in a river in a tiny village in the Provence, France. I went there for my first holiday with my girlfriend when we were not even two months together. We met and we just felt like going on a three week trip together through France. Never went to France before and never went camping before. So we went camping in this small village in the Provence and I had the time of my life really. That specific pool deserves to be my happy place.
How about you guys?
I wish I did. There isn’t a place that makes me particularly happy, because there is no place I’ve been to that’s suited to me and my autism. The closest thing would be my room. I have it precisely the way I need it: all curtains closed, windows shut, lights completely off, with my servers working away and their cooling fans humming nicely in the background.
When I get overwhelmed, I end up having an autistic shutdown, and have to retreat to my room. It is the only place where I can feel calm, because anywhere else, there are people, TVs, lights on, light and sound coming from outside, etc. I can’t handle very much of that for long, especially when I am extremely overwhelmed and in a shutdown. When this happens, I just lay on my bed for hours. Not sleeping, just thinking, until I’ve expressed enough of my emotions to get rid of the stress, and then I can start recovering, which can take anywhere from hours to days.
Even in my room though, some light and sound gets in. The perfect room would be completely sound-isolated, pitch black, and with a lock preventing anyone from entering. I’d spend a lot of time there. I also love forests and places with lots of nature, but it’s ruined by other people walking around, cars driving, and mosquitoes (I absolutely despise mosquitoes).
I feel like if I’m in an isolated room I’ll go insane with thoughts
Well, I’d have my computer, but I’d want that to be the only thing emitting light, and when I turn it off, I’d want it to be pitch black. Thinking would be the entire point, and I’d have my computer near me for when I’m finished thinking.