Autistic and me

Recently I read The Luck Factor by Dr Richard Wiseman.

Reading it only confirmed something I’ve kind of known for a while — that although my childhood and early adult years weren’t very lucky, things have improved a lot since then.

I’m quite good at turning negative events into positive ones. This blog is one of the examples of that — I would never have started it if I hadn’t been fired a few years ago. Reading this part of the book made me think I can trust my own judgement, which is a nice thing to realise, especially if you’re autistic.

The only category where I scored quite low was opportunities — and it’s exactly how it’s described in the book: I know no one will follow me on Instagram, so I very rarely post. I know my work won’t be selected for exhibitions, so I don’t respond to open calls.

I also used to feel a bit bitter about the fact that I never experienced serendipity. But that’s also how I eventually came to find my pattern-based animations — my real creative voice. It took a few years, and there were a few serendipitous events along the way. I might write about it sometime soon, although it could end up being a long post.

So for now, I’ll just say this: I really believe that if you work on your own project, you might also find this book useful. Wishing you lucky reading.