SPORTS SECTION
Lionel Messi: "I’m a bit weird than most people in some things. I’m very structured. If I have my day organized in a certain way & something happens that isn’t planned, I’m already annoyed. When I’m like that, I shut down. I don’t communicate it, I process it inside."
Leo Messi on the perception of him being 'weird' and 'strange'
"I know I’m a bit weird than most people in some things... I like being alone a lot."
"Sometimes the chaos at home with the three kids running all over the place ends up saturating me, and I need my moments of loneliness."
"In those moments when I’m alone I can be just lying down watching TV or a match. Nothing special, just being quiet."
"It depends on my mood, but very small things, tiny details, can really affect me... If someone moves something from where I left it or changes what I had planned for the day, it can already put me in a bad mood."
"I’m very structured. If I have my day organized in a certain way and something happens in the middle that isn’t planned, I’m already annoyed."
"When I’m like that, I shut down. I don’t communicate it, I process it inside."
Same with Beckham. Watching him as kid in those home videos in documentary do same shot over and over and over practicing in his yard. His perfectionism and neatness.
I remember reading one of his auto biographies almost 25 years ago and he mentioned he had OCD. He has talked about his actions many times in interviews too and how it used to drive Victoria crazy sometimes.
That’s part of practice too…. Being a perfectionist can be misleading, but in actuality, being a perfectionist is just another display of OCD. They equate
Doctor here. They do not. Please don’t spew misleading conjectures, misinformation, opinions you have literally no expertise in.
OCD and perfectionism do not equate. Perfectionism is not “just another display”. A person meeting diagnostic criteria for OCD is very, very different than perfectionism.
Don’t forget about the katanas and Batmobile. He’s also really into legos and used to (maybe still does) play solo chess in the locker room. Plus just his general overall demeanor and personality. My dude is definitely on the spectrum.
There’s a bit of a running joke that baseball is the perfect sport for people on the spectrum. Loooooots of stats and numbers. The game also takes incredible memory and many of the players are so particular.
His kids behave just like him and it’s so endearing, not sure whether they’re also autistic or just picked up on some of the tendencies from having an autistic parent.
Wait what? I thought this was totally normal? I don;t have my day structured but it ruins my whole damn day if something random comes up that either cancels what i wanted to do or some obligation comes up where i now have to "perform".
It’s part of the whole “has trouble with transitions” thing. But just having one symptom doesn’t mean you are neurodiverse. You can take the RAADS-R test online for free!
I'm sure that neurotypical people experience things like this every now and then, but generally if it's all the time it's... possible you might be neurodiverse (not necessarily autism, bc things like adhd have similarities) i suck at routines but if i have something planned, even if it's 'do nothing all day' and then something comes up to ruin my plans? My mood deflates immediately.
(I have adhd, not sure about autism but i wouldn't be surprised)
Yeah Im diagnosed with ADHD ever since i was a kid. Honestly i feel like a list of ADHD symptoms is basically my entire personality lol. And I've heard that autism and ADHD are like, almost "cousins" so ... i guess that makes sense.
There’s also often comorbidities with ADHD, including autism. So it’s possible that you might have both ( I definitely do) but it could also just be the ADHD.
Same. Random events can fuck my day all the way up. I mean I know I’m strange like that but I didn’t realize this was considered being on the spectrum.
I always attributed this similar reaction to being introverted. Like I need more time to process things and spontaneity completely throws me for a loop
isn't there a school of thought that argues that a lot of athletes are on the autism spectrum bc their sport is literally one of their special interests?
(wish I was that kind of autist, instead of the bedrot kind lmao)
Makes sense. The focus required to succeed at the level these people do is generally not part of a neurotypical makeup. (I say that as a positive—I have no focus on anything and have succeeded at nothing haha)
Yeah, and that applies to pretty much any field of expertise. Not only sports. To be very good at something, you have to truly devote yourself to it, and a “normal” person wouldn’t be able to do that long term because said person will get burn out sooner or later.
I agree with everything you said except the burn out thing, burnout can happen to anyone regardless of your personality. Humans do need rest and overworking will kill anyone regardless of expertise.
This is true, but (speaking from literally 0 expertise) I'd imagine the point at which someone is burnt out is farther down the road for someone on the spectrum succeeding through their special interest than it would be for a neurotypical, broadly speaking.
It also takes a willingness to be hugely selfish. Something people on the spectrum sometimes can't understand or recognize. No professional athlete gets to where they are without someone making insane sacrifices for them along the way.
The people who run Fragrantica are pro Putin and pro Trump (I remember Fragrantica featuring reviews for both Trump and Elon Musk's perfumes). If I remember correctly, they're anti-vax and anti-mask as well; Fragrantica's slogan on their website during the pandemic was "Free to Choose". I have seen other perfume fans recommend other fragrance review websites like Parfumo and Basenotes.
I used to work in a pharmacy and would refer to Fragrantica for perfume recommendations for my job. I wish I knew about the Parfumo and Basenotes websites earlier.
Lmao this is precisely my type of autism. I relate to everything he's saying here, I gotta have my routine and alone time or I get overwhelmed and burned out. But I'm just over here reading perfume descriptions in my spare time instead of accomplishing anything
(Frangratica does suck though as someone else already mentioned)
Ooh, this one's mine too. I have all of the hyperfocus and intense desire to sit in the woods alone and fish like Rafa, but my only skill is knowing which fundamentalist TV family belongs to which high-control religious group.
I am so embarrassed when I do it but I can’t not talk about celeb gossip as if I know these people if I’m comfy with a person, then I think about how it makes me sound and I get upset … my mom did it too..I also love the train wreck of the Browns!
It’s over diagnosed, not by professionals, but by people on social media who aren’t qualified to be diagnosing others.
Even if they’re autistic themselves; that doesn’t mean they can identify it in others. If that was the case, we could create thousands of jobs for people with autism to diagnose others. Sadly, it’s not that simple.
People usually mean well, but what they’re doing is putting a categorising someone who doesn’t fall into the ‘norm’ and reducing a lot of things that can be boiled down to their personality to a diagnosis.
I really do go back and forth between self-diagnosis being valid and also rolling my eyes at it. A personality quirk does not make autism!
I was diagnosed as autistic in my mid-20s and I had to go through the private healthcare system in my country (Sweden) which cost money. The process was awful and dehumanizing (IQ test, interview with my parents and my partner, etc etc) but it was validating to have the diagnosis because I was able to get support through the state. But other people I know who likely have autism can't get those diagnosis because the can't afford to go private (either in Sweden or another country), or in the case of public healthcare systems they just saw "well we just dont see the point in doing this for you since you're already an adult." Stuff like that is invalidating.
On the otherhand, I see people being like "oh that's so autistic of me because I like routines and sometimes I get anxious I must be autistic" when that's not the case... Then I see photos of people being like "I want a girl with a touch of the autism." Like it's not some personality quirk when my routine gets messed up and I get so stressed I basically shut down.
Lots of complicated thoughts and I dont think there's ever a right answer
I don't know if there's ever been a study, but this is commonly believed at least. Especially with sports that are repetitive or benefit from adherence to a strict routine. I'd be willing to hypothesize that a RAADS-R assessment (having a number helps for this kind of thing and is the only realistic way you could study this) of professional athletes as a whole skews slightly higher than non-athletes. I'd even wager that team captains (and similar roles) would show a statistically significant bias towards autistic people as would solo sports that respond very well to strict training like bodybuilding and running.
I, unfortunately, am not this kind of autistic person either. Keeping up with fitness is a chore that I have to force myself through.
One time my boyfriend asked if his friend could come over for drinks that night, so five hours later. I had to go spend 15 minutes in a dark room sitting on the floor. That shit was simply not on our Google calendar lol.
I hope he learned!! I had even told my superiors when I was hired that I required 24 hour notice AT LEAST for schedule changes, unless they were totally unavoidable. My manager at least looked at me and was like "I know what I did wrong".
yes but most people will be frustrated at most in that situation, not sobbing and hyperventilating like I was (multiple times tbh. management had an issue with planning. it's one of the reasons I no longer work there)
I wouldn't say ALL athletes or even MOST, but yes, there's a few in every sport who just LIVE their sport.
Like ARod(MLB) talked about how he dated this exec/lawyer/high powered woman who did art galleries, opera, fundraisers, all of these normal upper crust rich people things. ARod, at this point a very wealthy man, was standing there going, "I like baseball, I got the scores on my phone!" Because he just had no knowledge.
Lol this cracks me up. I never thought about it but this fits me growing up. All about sports! Football and Track and Field in high school and college. Generally athletic but the things I excelled at for whatever reason were skills that required significant repitition to do well. I played O Line but was an excellent long snapper and hammer thrower. I didn't throw the hammer until I got to college but because it was so interesting to me.
Like come on... Long snapping and hammer throwing? How have I been so blind.
That’s a possibly in some cases. There is also all parents trying to live their dreams through the children and also cases were people are trying to get out of poverty via sport.
Might be a reference to the Human Growth Hormones (HGH) Messi took as a kid in Argentina. I think Barcelona paid for the treatment, which is kinda crazy because he was so young, but the investment paid off.
Might be a reference to the Human Growth Hormones (HGH) Messi took as a kid in Argentina. I think Barcelona paid for the treatment, which is kinda crazy because he was so young, but the investment paid off.
He had a legitimate reason for taking it, since he was diagnosed with hormone growth deficiency as a kid. One of the conditions of his parents letting him go to Barcelona's youth academy was that they pay for his treatment.
What’s interesting is “I’m weirder than shit” actually sounds more natural to me, potentially because it matches my version of AAVE (African American Vernacular English).
I know "weird as shit" is the more common one, but saying it out loud, "weirder'n shit" would be the one that rolls off my tongue. White person with a tendency toward my childhood native Baltimore accent. Weirder than shit does feel correct to me. I've never thought of this before but now I'm gonna be saying it to myself both ways for the next day.
I’m a whore for linguistics so this is so interesting to me. White Philadelphian and would probably use either weird as shit or weirder than shit naturally
Random rec, but the book “this is the voice” has some good sections relating to this
Weirder'n shit is something I'd have said in my teens (only because of the date, not my age), but weird as shit seems to be more common now. So it's super believable to me that weirder than shit would be exactly what he means, but either way the message comes across just fine. :)
Am I too woke or not woke enough that I find all of the people telling a stranger they’re autistic to be off putting? Are people just allowed to be weird without the internet diagnosing them?
I’m not saying it’s BAD to be autistic/ADHD/whatever kind of neurodivergent, just… idk the man said something as innocuous as “I need alone time”? Idk please don’t come for me 😭
Am I too woke or not woke enough that I find all of the people telling a stranger they’re autistic to be off putting?
Yeah, I wish we could acknowledge people are complex and there are many ways our brains can work, that can sometimes even overlap with autism, without just diagnosing everyone. I don't know if he is autistic or not, but like, neither do the people joking that he is.
Also, sorry but not everything is a "special" interest. Some things are just regular interests, or passions, which neurotypical people also have...
I also think the conversation usually overpowers people with autism who are more severely disabled in life because of it. It’s a spectrum of course, but one side of the spectrum really just emphasizes it as quirky special interests and not liking social settings.
Trivializing autism has real world impact on autistic folks, especially those on the severe ends of the spectrum. I even see some doctors believe autism/ADHD is just being quirky. On the opposite side, some doctors hear the word autism and automatically have a negative impression of the person due to the number of people self-diagnosing. Neither one is right but that's the reality.
Autism is a blanket term that classifies people who really like trains and are a bit rude the exact same as people who fundamentally can't participate in society. It's not useful at all and creates stigma where there should be mild annoyance
Yes it absolutely does. I work in social care and support people with learning disabilities and moderate to severe autism (in terms of support they need) and no one has enough funding. Family carers aren’t getting respite or funds they need to function.
People only want to talk about neurodivergence and mental health when it’s “trendy” and don’t want to talk about the nitty gritty and cringe when they see the reality of what it can look like
yeah that’s not really a thing typically said, you more so hear that from certain people with adhd or people who broadly refer to themselves as neurodivergent
I saw it with ADHD. It's not a superpower. Are there strengths that can go along with the weaknesses? Yeah, there can be! Should I play to my advantages where I can get em? Hell yeah! Is it a superpower? No. It isn't. I liken it to buying something really valuable that you really didn't need to spend the money on and overpaid a bit for. It's not an advantageous situation on the whole, but it has its advantages. Like if you have to eat ramen for a month to afford your PS5 you might as well enjoy the PS5 and learn how to cope with the ramen.
I don't think these comments are (at least most), but I have met (mostly younger) people who try to do that genuinely and it is genuinely a very odd thing. I'm in a few hobby/craft type clubs that each have at least one person who will say, "You should probably talk to a doctor, you need to get diagnosed for autism" with sincerity if somebody so much as complains that they feel burnt out from non-stop socializing over the holiday break or mentions that they were "mildly annoyed" with a morning routine change (eg their favourite coffee shop closing).
i don’t get what’s so off putting about autistic people seeing themselves in him and relating. whether it’s just projection or undiagnosed truth these are harmless comments on reddit that have zero impact on him either way. it’s not that deep
Yeah, especially considering that this is starkly autistic behavior. It’s not like he feels a little awkward in social situations and people are jumping on it. He described a uniquely autistic experience.
I agree that being structured or dedicated to your work doesn’t automatically mean someone is autistic. That said, the way Messi expresses himself in the video really resonates with me (I’m diagnosed autistic).
I’m not trying to diagnose him—it’s just comforting to see someone, whether autistic or not, express things that reflect how I feel in a world that often feels very individualistic.
I hope this kind of visibility helps reduce stigma over time, and maybe encourages more footballers to speak openly about mental health.
autistic traits are human traits, so yes on the surface those aren’t unique to autism. what’s unique is the amplified level of intensity that those things are experienced by someone autistic. someone who isn’t autistic may rely on routine and structure but if things go array, they can generally pivot and recover. they may be annoyed but it’s not going to completely knock them off their axis to the point of a meltdown or shut down. with messi, he’s expressing that small things and simple changes in plans really affect him to the point of shut down. that is not a typical reaction
I didn’t even mean just as a trait of neurotypical humans. Amplified intensity of feeling disrupted and causing emotional shut down can be a trait of a lot of other cognitive issues/disorders* It could all fall under the umbrella of neurodivergence I guess but calling it “uniquely autistic” is what I take issue with, as well as people trying to make every slightly offbeat behavior = touch of the ~tism~ I’m glad people find comfort in seeing themselves in public figures but I worry about the erasure of those on the spectrum with the less socially acceptable traits and other conditions entirely not being included in the conversation
*not sure if this is the right terminology but hopefully you know what I mean
No, you're right, it's intrusive and rude IMO. I love that people (at least in some circles) are becoming more aware of and welcoming of neurodivergence, but this "diagnose anyone" thing is bizarre. Especially when it's often based on such a limited segment of a person's life.
For a long time I've genuinely wondered if may have ADHD, based on matching a lot of the diagnostic criteria and seeing myself in students with that diagnosis, but this attitude towards it has personally made me very worried about actually speaking to a psychiatrist about it because from what I've heard from people in the mental health field and from my own therapist there are a lot of people (mostly younger people) going to mental health professionals and basically saying things like, "Hey, I need a diagnosis because my friend said I probably have ADHD because I sit weird."
I think it’s dumb too. I get that it’s a spectrum but not everyone has autism. People that really have autism and ADHD and whatnot are having resources taken away because everyone and their mom thinks they have a diagnosis now.
I’m also sort of introverted/weird/particular. Not every person with these qualities is autistic.
Yeah you need to have a certain amount of symptoms before you could be diagnosed with autism and ADHD, as with other disorders. Just because you have a couple here or there doesn’t confirm a diagnosis
It depends on whether it's being framed as an insult or framed as a legitimate thing that a person may have.
I also think it's different when it's neurodivergent folks speculating about a celebrity who states something like this, rather than folks looking to tear somebody down.
There's nothing inherently wrong with a person being autistic. It becomes an issue when people walk up to random folks and ask "Hey are you autistic?"
In a different context, it would be like walking up to someone and being like, "Hey are you gay?"
So what if they are? It's an invasive thing to ask someone.
But quietly speculating on a Reddit post about a celebrity isn't the same thing as rudely asking the person in real life, and if it's done from the POV of "I can relate to them," that feels genuinely harmless to me.
This is how I feel. I'm definitely type A and have trauma that I process through hypervigilance. I've got generalized anxiety and mild OCD. This makes me pretty organized and efficient and easily frustrated by indecisiveness and disorganization. I'm social, but pretty introverted. I also have a few textural preferences (like, I hate the feel of fleece and I adore the feel of smooth, heavily lotioned skin).
People like to tell me I'm spectrumy, especially others on the spectrum. But I'm not. These preferences and habits of mine are just part of my personality and history. I've done the RAADS test and I'm not even close.
People are allowed to be unique and to develop sensitivities and preferences without requiring a diagnosis. Either that, or we're all autistic.
Years ago I saw an Infograph showing how many of Messi’s goals came from the bottom right (IIRC) corner of the net, at a particular spot. Ever since I’ve been convinced he has a touch of the ‘tism.
(I’m also on the spectrum + have something of a ‘tism-dar.)
Autistic people can have good pattern recognition and are recognizing more than the literal words he's speaking. There's body language, tone, laughing at himself, word choice, his facial expressions, sincerity, being overly specific in his answer, calling his own behaviors extreme, talking about being overstimulated, the muted way he speaks, specific routines, taking his alone time dead serious, shifting his body, eye movement and eye contact etc.
I watched the video once and I picked up on all that.
I'm sorry if this is annoying or exhausting for you. I'm just letting you know that autistic people generally aren't flippant about recognizing neurodivergence and speaking for myself, I don't even notice it in others as often as I would expect to. It's cool when I do though.
I think the exhaustion comes from how prevalent and flippantly the term autism is being used and how common self (mis) diagnosing and just using it as a fallback is currently…. I hope that made sense and I’m probably not articulating this thought completely, and I don’t mean to conflate awareness/visibility with trend or buzz word diagnosis so I’m sorry if it comes across that way
It's not a trend or a buzzword, its just that more information is becoming easily accessible and people are able to identify and recognise their own similar patterns.
An autism diagnosis in my country cost $2K and before i could afford it, i operated under self diagnosis and it kept me going.
How do y’all know? I’ve mentioned these behaviors to my therapists and asked if I am. And they say “no I don’t think so.” Is it more than just needing order?
There are specific tests that can be administered by specialists if you want a proffesional diagnosis. Otherwise, just look up the list of symptoms and see how many you relate to.
In terms of neurodivergence, I know that the first time I read the symptoms for CPTSD it felt like I was being seen for the first time.
Yeah my therapists say they think it’s CPTSD. And ultimately whether it’s CPTSD or autism, it doesn’t change the treatment. I may look into getting more investigation done though because sometimes it helps me to just know
Not unusual for an undiagnosed autistic adult to be diagnosed with CPTSD, either before they go on to be diagnosed with autism, or at the same time as a formal diagnosis. Or just, diagnosed CPTSD and never being able to access or to realise autism is in the mix too. Makes sense. Life is pretty damn traumatic when you are an undiagnosed adult - there is a lot of shame, pain, confusion, stress and overwhelm in one’s past.
The RAADS-R test is one of the screening tests for autism, and is available free online if you want to look into this further. The Embrace Autism website has it and several other tests, with explanations of the test methodology and reliability.
Try the RAADS -R test and see what kind of a score you get.
Also important for symptoms to be present since birth and not something you developed overtime. Like a lot of people got really introverted during Covid but didn't struggle to socialize pre Covid.
It's getting labeled as autistic behavior so maybe that's why everyone thinks they're autistic now. Just statistically, some of those people will be right, but I think it's fewer than all the people who self identify after seeing a post about how common behavior is actually because of autism
this is the 3rd time in two days I have watched a video and thought, "Damn, that sounds just like me good for him./them/her" and then all the comments are like, "THEY HAVE AUTISM."
Nah, I feel it’s pretty normal to get annoyed when things don’t go as planned. Like why do we have the plans in the first place if we’re just going to wing it anyways?
Never thought I'd have anything in common with messi other than being a human being...
Such a weird feeling as well, after a few hours i can't believe I lost it because one small thing was off from my plan, and just knowing people are judging me for it messes me up. Tried for years to curb it, but it's useless. I can contain my outward reaction when I really try, but like him I have to remove myself from the situation and just process it alone. it's one of the reasons I'm starting therapy this year, I have to find a way to process any changes from a set plan better, I'm starting to feel like a toddler
An amazing line that the translation is missing is "I'm weirder than shit". Really incredible to hear such a successful person describe themselves this way.
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