I don’t know if it’s ADHD, autism, a combination of both, or something else entirely, but I have very specific routes when driving. For instance, most of my drives in town are to the grocery store. I take the same route every time without fail. If I am taking certain turns, I am going to the grocery store.
Sometimes, my wife will need to visit the crafts store nearby. It’s a very similar route, except for one specific turn that I skip. We will get in the car, and she will have to remind me 9 times out of 10 to not take the specific turn that goes to the grocery store. Because the routine is that if I take turns A, B, and C, then turn D to the grocery is what naturally follows. It’s not because I’ve forgotten we’re going to the crafts store (though I probably have). It’s because if I’ve taken these specific turns, I must be driving to the grocery store.
It’s almost muscle memory at this stage. She’ll see my pinky reach for the turn signal and holler DON’T. And yes, it has to be loud and abrupt because if not, odds are I won’t process it in time and we will be driving to the grocery store.
Maybe this is me being unaware of my own divergence, but that sounds pretty normal. We’re attached to pattern as humans, and driving is one of those things you do subconsciously (or at least it’s on the back burner in terms of direct focus) after a while. Makes sense you would conflate two super similar routes when you are essentially operating off muscle memory
I don’t know if it’s ADHD, autism, a combination of both, or something else entirely, but I have very specific routes when driving. For instance, most of my drives in town are to the grocery store. I take the same route every time without fail. If I am taking certain turns, I am going to the grocery store.
Sometimes, my wife will need to visit the crafts store nearby. It’s a very similar route, except for one specific turn that I skip. We will get in the car, and she will have to remind me 9 times out of 10 to not take the specific turn that goes to the grocery store. Because the routine is that if I take turns A, B, and C, then turn D to the grocery is what naturally follows. It’s not because I’ve forgotten we’re going to the crafts store (though I probably have). It’s because if I’ve taken these specific turns, I must be driving to the grocery store.
It’s almost muscle memory at this stage. She’ll see my pinky reach for the turn signal and holler DON’T. And yes, it has to be loud and abrupt because if not, odds are I won’t process it in time and we will be driving to the grocery store.
Maybe this is me being unaware of my own divergence, but that sounds pretty normal. We’re attached to pattern as humans, and driving is one of those things you do subconsciously (or at least it’s on the back burner in terms of direct focus) after a while. Makes sense you would conflate two super similar routes when you are essentially operating off muscle memory