Autism, the gig economy, and "side hustles"... are we headed for a crisis?

Side hustles have provided new opportunities for people to make money - which has been especially welcome for people on the spectrum who often have trouble finding and maintaining employment in today's highly social work environments.
Lately I have been researching side hustles as I'm trying to improve my financial life. It's hard to tell where things will go within the next 2-3 years (let alone further out) and there are so many uncertainties right now.
Then this morning I learned about some more aspects of the economy that I had not been aware of which really got me thinking, and made me ponder some weird/crazy choices.
If nothing else, I hope this rant shows how a person on the spectrum is trying to think things through in an area outside their expertise when not all needed information is available.

[@jeffd72703]

I get it about the financial news. So illogical and very anxiety inducing!

[@AutismEtc]

I completely avoid news now, partly because news *always* seems to include financial news. Only bad thing, I was riding my bike around in what felt like weird smog, and only found out afterwards that there were some wildfires up in Canada, haha

[@see4182]

Its easy to see how facing a sudden/major change could knock someone dealing with autism through quite a few loops. It's tough keeping your equilibrium for anyone when confronted by such sea changes. Catastrophe thinking is what you might be doing here. You seem quite upset. It's good to consider all possibilities for the future, yes, but don't pin everything on one scenario playing out. You could always keep your current car, renegotiate with your insurance company to drive less miles which lowers your payments and/or take higher deductions, while using your bike as much as possible, saving on gas. Seldom does 'all or nothing' thinking happen or is all that useful. I live in an area where some things are close at hand, while others are far as do most people. I walk to as many as possible, but don't consider myself lying to my car insurance company when choosing to drive on rainy days to get where I need to go. It's also useful to live within walking/riding distance of a bus line. It's difficult for some ASD people to take public transport, yes, but perhaps they could ride-share with someone? It's hard when you don't know what your options can be or will be. The old saying "the only certainty about the future is the future's uncertainty" really rings true. However, staying postive helps tremendously and you are definitely a very positive person!

[@AutismEtc]

Thanks so much for your encouraging words! Yes, I've been a victim of catastrophic thinking. There is something very traumatic about failing in social interactions, and there is nothing more depressing than trying your best during job interviews yet noticing all the typical signs that people are unsatisfied with your answers. It only takes a few times to completely destroy my self-confidence and I go like... why would ANYONE hire me? I'm a complete failure, etc. One of my stress/meltdown symptoms is tearing up/ crying, and I find myself now struggling to keep composure as soon as an interview starts not going well (or if people are simply not smiling/not sending positive signals). So that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy where - the more I interview - the less likely it is to find a place to hire me. But then I remember in the past, sometimes when I hit rock bottom, new opportunities came up out of the blue. So who knows what happens...

[@IIIspirit]

This transition to EV will not happen in a week i guess. It is picking up pace already but the bulk will probably happen in the next 7 years. I don’t know your neighborhood but in my country Germany it is very easy to use bus, train and bike for 50€ in the whole country. I also have my own bike and a lot of car sharing I can use also. However a little car for bad weather or to be fast out of the city in nature would be great. the problem is I already had a car and don’t liked that I didn’t used my bike as much and got lazy.

[@AutismEtc]

I grew up in Germany! I did end up selling my car and enjoy so much riding everywhere by bike... it's like being a teenager again! Except the roads here are scary, there is trash everywhere, and few bike paths. Autonomously driving cars seem far away, but I could see one of the U.S. states allowing self-driving taxis, let's say, on sunny days between 10 a.m. and sundown, and on weekends, to avoid the difficulties still associated with darkness and bad weather. The moment this would go into effect the need to own a car would fall away for many people. Who knows, this could happen within a year or two. Or ten years. It will be interesting to see

[@IIIspirit]

Building cities for cars not humans was not the brightest move. In Hamburg a lot of restructuring is happening right now also to correct this. Next year I buy an e-bike the first time to be even more mobile.

[@FirstmaninRome]

I was thinking ahead and bought a honda Fit 3 years ago, best decision I ever made, the Fittest thing about me is my HOnda Fit, it is awesome, and yeah, as to the future, I'm glad I don't have children, good video

[@AutismEtc]

Honda Fits rule! But if I ever buy a car again, it will likely be a Toyota. Loved my Yaris, but the Kia I sold now was trash and has been giving me nothing but problems for years. All the stories of the motor blowing up at 100K miles scared me, so I got rid of it now.

[@FirstmaninRome]

Yeah, I'm watching the hbo show german two sides of the Abyss, and germany, Rhineland in this case look space age and clean, but there economy is not good either, we blew up there gas pipeline and energy is so expensive people are saying germany is now being Deindustrialized too, well I do work in mercedes contractor plant, so maybe they'll move it here, they have also shutdown the last Nuclear plants, bad ideas there too. But the show is kinda good if you watch in german, those dubbs aren't correct.

[@AutismEtc]

Thanks, I will check out that show! Yeah I sometimes turn on German subtitles for American shows, the translations are often horrible! I miss Germany, but from the distance some goings-on there seem weird, like that stuff with shutting down nuclear plants in the face of sky high electricity prices. And so many other things