What Challenges Lie Ahead

I continually am amazed at how much I've seen and overcome in the past 6 years even. To overcome being on the verge of academic probation to a near B average is remarkable for anyone, let alone an individual with autism. That whole time, I have been working (close to 30 hours including volunteering a week typically, including most of this term), going to Christian activities such as InterVaristy and doing activities with various churches, exercising quite a bit (in many various capacities), working towards independence at various levels, hanging out with various friends, going to class and excelling, doing Service-Learning, and drinking lots of coffee. However, I am not satisfied with the way things are. I want to do more. I long to do more. I never will be satisfied until I'm on my own without government funding, in a career, with reliable transportation, having a college degree (let's be honest, anything less would be unmistakeably a failure), and gained a strong commitment to various leadership agencies. To do this, I need to commit to working hard, never be satisfied with OK, never be complacent, and continue striving towards the goal. Living the dream right now is crazy-busy (self-imposed, I suppose) but doable. It's easy now, but it won't be easy once I get to a point of graduation from these steps of where I'm at. These challenges are sure to be implied as tough- I have to work at these things everyday and I have to watch out for opportunities for activism and charity as well as sometimes skipping fun items to be responsible. I've seen a whole lot in the past 6 years, never mind the last 29, and I continually am amazed at how much I've learned. I will continue to do so, and little things don't bother me as much and I'm slowly working through issues I've had in the past. I've had a lot of failures- as a Christian, as an autistic, as a friend, as a person. I lived through a series of roommates that were interesting and scary, but I didn't see any opportunities for better until the one I have now. I have been through a few interesting friendships and relationships and have dealings with some of them still, but I'm slowly working things out. I will probably never go to some of the church organizations and will probably continue to redefine my leadership styles in the future by weeding out some not so important things to make room for the super-important items and will probably never get to some of my dreams, but that's OK. I always have and always will continue to give it my all. Stay tuned for the next topic: the value of leadership as an autistic individual in an outsiders world.

How I View Differences In Myself And Others

My life has been one gigantic quagmire of compassion, a gigantic structural piece of bringing myself and others back together, making friends out of mere strangers, and making close friends in as short a span of a few days. My own life has been structurally exciting because of the people who have made my life great. Due to my high-level of empathy and structuring the pieces of ingenuity and fully strong comprehension of what people who live to strengthen the lives of others. The point is this: not two people are the same and not everyone makes up the world similarly. It takes all sorts of people to run the world and that's the beauty of it: the necessity of making strong relationships is what makes it a world to thrive on. Because of my autism though, that's the best of it- to see people for who they are and what they bring to the table- a true strength in so many areas. The people who you might've feared a year ago and that you might not of understood a month ago and gotten off on the wrong foot with- that person might end up being your best friend. Honestly, some of my close friends were intimated by me at first- a full hulking 6'5" of muscle and big feet, how can you not? But more importantly, people have changed those notions and I've strengthened my own attitudes as well. Some of the people that I respect the most they've had to earn my respect, but most of them, I trust them until there is a reason not to. People are great just the way they are, and viewing autism as one of my gifts rather than my excuses or explanations or crutches is one of the more important things to continue learning about the community as a whole. Life is fully structuring as we speak to many different ideals. How we perceive our differences make or break us at some points, but I choose my differences and others to coincide and strengthen it more fully and continue to greet people's structuring platforms. AutBott out, stay tuned for a topic soon: trying to consider what challenges lie ahead.

Who I Am And Why I Am Writing This Weekly Blog

I am Ian Bott and I am 29 years old and a Senior in college at Boise State University. I have spent countless hours playing sports, scrapping, working, studying, reading, traveling, writing, and now I'm recreating my sphere of blogs. This time, however, I am now going to talk about just anything, I am talking about autism- I am an individual with autism and have been since I was 6 years old. In later blogs, I will talk about my experiences with school, making friends, living situations, sports, friends, my faith, and some other things that I've gone through- the good and the bad, the ugly and the misguided, and the great and well-structured. All these items will be talked about later and these items will be talked about besides the items of self-advocacy, the constructions of my caffeine, food, and so on, and the gluten-free and other special diets that have helped me feel better. Occasionally I will talk about the good and bad experiences of the seasons and various experiences of the groups. The good, the bad, and the ugly- it all needs to be heard. Bringing life into autism- that's the AutBott way. Stay tuned to next weeks topic: Finding strength through other people's weaknesses.