u/Ambitious-Present-57

I mean, most of the plants on my property look normal, but some are just more purple than I would have anticipated. I planted a red maple, its leaves are dark purple. (My neighbor's red maple has the same coloration.) I planted red roses, the blossoms are dark purple. I'm not sure it's something I have to *fix*, exactly (I'd sort of prefer the red, but I'd prefer a healthy plant above that - although if it's a problem that might impact the happiness of the plant, I should try to fix it), it's just I'm really curious about what might be going on.

I was diagnosed at a young age, so I'm pretty sure I do have autism and not something like ADHD. It's just I don't deal with overstimulation much (I have a couple of textures and that's about it - it's a very dramatic thing to say, but I still have nightmares about the corduroy pants I had to wear as a very young child). Understimulation is a *huge* issue though, and I regret that I hadn't taken my autism more seriously and addressed my sensory needs early on. It's only now that I started figuring out what kind of stims I like and trying to use them to improve my quality of life. (Visual stimming is big with me, so I've been building up a collection of things to help with that, and taste is also a big stim so I got this sour powder I can add to water or another low calorie drink so I'm not trying to eat everything in sight to get my needs met.) (...please do not ask how much weight I gained before I addressed the root cause of my disordered eating. 😔 Fortunately, I also found physical stimming helps a lot, which I can do through things like hiking or rucking, and now that I've started exercising enthusiastically, I've lost 20 pounds over the last six months without really thinking about it. I also finalized my decision to switch career paths to wildlife management, which will have me moving around outdoors quite a bit. I really dislike being inside.)

In general, my life has improved quite a bit and I wish I had taken care of this part of myself earlier. Not really sure what kind of response I'm after, just wondering if anyone can relate to that experience. Would also welcome recommendations for visual stims, taste stims, and physical stims.