I Don't Understand Fellow Humans

[guessed]

I've just recently become aware of this truth about myself and it scares me.

I literally do not understand other human beings.

1. I don't understand their motivations.
2. I can't relate to the things they are concerned with in daily life.
3. I have very little interest in the things they enjoy doing.
4. I frequently, if not always misunderstand them.
5. I have missed out on a lot of life due to the first 4 things.

How is it possible, that at 30 years old, I have missed so much of what other people naturally understand about each other?

I feel like a scientist who studies wild animals. Or maybe i'm the wild animal trying to understand the scientist. I have no equipment or mental capacity to ever comprehend.

Is this typical of SA or is this something else entirely? Is this mental illness, or mental retardation? Has anybody else here experienced this?

 

[BlackPuma]

Don't beat yourself up though, I feel the same way.

I don't know what it is caused by, but I enjoy the company of cats and dogs (and many other animals) more then the company other human beings. Mostly because, on many levels, they make more sense to me. Being around people just confuses me..

I've even used the phrase ''Oh, you're such a human.'' as an insult once or twice before. x3;

 

[lunaticbinge]

I'm exactly the same way. Isolation's a bitch like that.

 

[EscapeArtist]

Yep. I do'nt understand "small talk", I don't understand wasting one's whole life on a job for money, or why people live the same lives as everybody else hiding their real desires, dressing up fancy or going to parties, I don't understand anything. Hang in there, I don't think it's mental retardation but quite the opposite. Even people of society think that society is crazy. We just stick to our opinions, rather than going in the same direction everybody else is going. Does this make your anxiety worse? For me, if somebody is speaking to me, I have a hard time faking a reaction but my real opinion seems quite odd to er... a more-so society brainwashed mind.

 

[chris11]

You might benifit from checking out asperger's syndrome

 

[SilverFire]

I've just recently become aware of this truth about myself and it scares me.

I literally do not understand other human beings.

1. I don't understand their motivations.
2. I can't relate to the things they are concerned with in daily life.
3. I have very little interest in the things they enjoy doing.
4. I frequently, if not always misunderstand them.
5. I have missed out on a lot of life due to the first 4 things.

How is it possible, that at 30 years old, I have missed so much of what other people naturally understand about each other?

I feel like a scientist who studies wild animals. Or maybe i'm the wild animal trying to understand the scientist. I have no equipment or mental capacity to ever comprehend.

Is this typical of SA or is this something else entirely? Is this mental illness, or mental retardation? Has anybody else here experienced this?

I hear ya. I've often felt like an observer or an ethnologist or a watcher, looking in on society from the outside. I have a lot of alienation (mental, spiritual, interests) that sets me apart and so people are a challenge.

A big thing to me was acceptance -- accepting that people like to do things that are hurtful to themselves, stupid, or just boring. For instance, women who eat ice cream and watch soaps. Yes, they get fat; yes, it's totally stupid, and yes, it's totally destructive. I guess my psychoanalytic instincts help me out here. I always ask "Why?" In that case, it's probably a lot of pain, self-doubt, and fear -- the same things we have to deal with, in the end.

 

[goldatom]

Just accept yourself.

 

[Honda]

Yep. I do'nt understand "small talk", I don't understand wasting one's whole life on a job for money, or why people live the same lives as everybody else hiding their real desires, dressing up fancy or going to parties, I don't understand anything. Hang in there, I don't think it's mental retardation but quite the opposite. Even people of society think that society is crazy. We just stick to our opinions, rather than going in the same direction everybody else is going. Does this make your anxiety worse? For me, if somebody is speaking to me, I have a hard time faking a reaction but my real opinion seems quite odd to er... a more-so society brainwashed mind.

Maybe they do so because they dont bother thinking about it like you do.. But im against going with the flow without having a mind to question things.. Everybody has a choice.. Well not everybody, some people have conditions or a life that doesn't allow them to but as long as you do you make the difference..

 

[dpr]

I've just recently become aware of this truth about myself and it scares me.

I literally do not understand other human beings.

1. I don't understand their motivations.
2. I can't relate to the things they are concerned with in daily life.
3. I have very little interest in the things they enjoy doing.
4. I frequently, if not always misunderstand them.
5. I have missed out on a lot of life due to the first 4 things.

How is it possible, that at 30 years old, I have missed so much of what other people naturally understand about each other?

I feel like a scientist who studies wild animals. Or maybe i'm the wild animal trying to understand the scientist. I have no equipment or mental capacity to ever comprehend.

Is this typical of SA or is this something else entirely? Is this mental illness, or mental retardation? Has anybody else here experienced this?

I'm not sure if it's typical, but I feel exactly like you just described.

But I sometimes think that I just don't live around cool enough people.

 

[goldatom]

Yep. I do'nt understand "small talk", I don't understand wasting one's whole life on a job for money, or why people live the same lives as everybody else hiding their real desires, dressing up fancy or going to parties, I don't understand anything. Hang in there, I don't think it's mental retardation but quite the opposite. Even people of society think that society is crazy. We just stick to our opinions, rather than going in the same direction everybody else is going. Does this make your anxiety worse? For me, if somebody is speaking to me, I have a hard time faking a reaction but my real opinion seems quite odd to er... a more-so society brainwashed mind.

I can't do any of the above too. But I want to be able to do the working for money part. It's basically you doing something for the other person and s/he does something for you. Because you can't do everything. You can't invent new technologies or comforts, you can't make people respect others, you can't do all of it by yourself. So you do something for others and in return they do something for you. This is actually a fundamental thing. It's necessary and going to parties, making small talk and similar things come much later than this.

 

[Ashiene]

Do not worry about what others like or think. You live for yourself, not for them. This is your life, not theirs. Remember it is always the special and unique person who looks beyond the natural and the normal, who thinks open-mindedly and boldly, who accomplishes and discovers the most things.

 

[Kiwong]

I also don't understand humans, they are far too complicated. I don't enjoy interacting much with people in person at all, I simply can't fathom trying to relate. One day you'll be getting along with someone, and the next day not. In a busy shopping centre, I feel very stressed and dizzy from being around too many people all of them so alien, so dangerous to my soul and unfathomable.

The worry of being misunderstood, makes me feel so unwell. Sometimes if I'm getting on with someone I want to leave it at that, because the next day I probably won't be.

I want to learn a few simple social skills, just to be able to bluff my way through human interactions each day, without the fear and misuderstanding this causes me