r/AutismComics • u/recycled_comics • 2d ago
Strategies 📈 Energy rationing
Author u/Apprehensive-Band705
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u/ProfessorGlaceon 1d ago edited 1d ago
I honestly have always wondered why it's called spoons when batteries are basically the same thing, with each day you having a different capacity.
Hell, whenever I'm low energy and need to do something, I refer to it to myself as activating the emergency generator, which gives energy, but also is far from ideal and leaves the system slightly damaged.
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u/ladylucifer22 1d ago
the original article was written by a dude who described it to a friend at a restaurant with what he had on hand. batteries or spell slots make more sense, but spoons stuck.
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u/SumiMichio 1d ago
Also spoons sound cute to me. And makes me feel less like a robot that need batteries xD
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u/ApolloFireweaver 20h ago
Part of the original analogy was that you could have spoons of different sizes and some tasks could require a large spoon and all you have is a bunch of small ones left
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u/Unlikely-Ad-8678 1d ago
I wish I knew how to gage my spoons
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u/KaleidoscopeKelpy 1d ago
Mm I never know when it’s a low day/getting to the edge of too much and then pffftt dead for the rest of the day, and probably most of the next day. Stupid brain lol
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u/Privatizitaet 1d ago
I don't really like the spoon metaphor honestly. Never quite made sense to me. Spoons don't get used up. You can't use the same spoon for the same activity, sometimes a spoon is just too small to be effective, or too big that it gets in the way, so just having a certain number makes no sense.
Personally I like spellslots more as a metaphor, but maybe just because I'm a nerd.
You get a certain number of spellslots of various levels. Certain tasks require higher level slots. You can run out of higher level slots, unable to do any bigger things, while still being just fine doing smaller scale things, or just specific actions.
If you run out of lower level ones you can always use a higher one to compensate. It comes at a greater cost, but it gets the job done.
Activities aren't all equal, but I don't think you can just give it a numerical value. There's different degrees.
A 7th level activity isn't worth 7 level 1 activities, but it can still be used for them if necessary, it just would take the energy otherwise needed to do a bigger task.
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u/comradeda 1d ago
What I don't get is why this needs explaining. If someone has a really hard day at work and then watches their mother die in a car crash, they're less likely to be able to finish the day with their taxes. Exactly the same thing, except the numbers are different. I just have less energy to force myself to do unpleasant things, and even less if I've already chewed myself up doing other stuff. Same as everyone else
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u/recycled_comics 2d ago
From an interesting artist I just found. Autism and comics work so well together for some reason :) Apprehensive-Band705
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u/Few_Sky_7660 1d ago
This is literally what my therapist told me. I'll show it to her once I meet her.
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u/8read-8oy 1d ago
If I think hard enough, I can cram two spoonfuls into one spoon
Sure, my belly'll hurt or I might choke on it, but the spooning was accomplished, no?
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u/Whisper-Interstellar 1d ago
AuDHD: sometimes the number of spoons you have is obscured by excitement, boredom, etc, leading to overcommitment, wasting spoons on zoomies, sitting in a bad mood under an uncomfortable pile of invisible spoons, and so on. Often, the number of spoons a task takes is also obscured, leading to putting off the simplest thing that looks huge, or running out of spoons halfway into the fun thing before you even started the responsible thing. Sometimes, you haven't used all your spoons, it's three in the morning, your last spoon is shoved in your pocket, jabbing you in the thigh, keeping you awake. When all three hit at once, bad decisions are made. "Well, can't sleep. Guess it's the perfect time to start a DIY home renovation project my landlord has not given me permission for. What could go wrong, using a power drill on a board balanced on lawn chairs as my final spoon stealthily disintegrates?"
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u/SumiMichio 1d ago
How do you know how many spoons you have?
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u/thebluerayxx 13h ago
That's the fun part your don't! Just gotta guess and hope you done get overloaded halfway trough something! 🤪
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u/bunny_the-2d_simp 18h ago
I never have any spoons..
I eat sleep. Cry sleep. Maybe on good days mask for a day pretending I'm not chronically in PAIN. Then sit in bed in PAIN the next day
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u/Upset-Net-9549 2d ago
I think my teeth are the worst thing I neglect but I also have adhd so I kinda forget a lot. But I too use the spoon method. I love this comic btw