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A rather broad question rather than a small one: do you enjoy being embodied, feeling and doing stuff with your physical body in the real world?
For me, the answer is obvious – I would leave my body behind and not interact with the physical environment at all if I could. I just don’t feel any positive emotions moving around, being present, interacting with objects that aren’t a screen of some form. I never did for some reason, even as a kid.
It is strange because I’m a fairly healthy male in my late 20s without any disabilities, nor am I terribly out of shape (although I am slightly overweight due to working a sedentary job nowadays, but I had the same feeling even when I was at a normal weight), so I should theoretically be the prime demographic for enjoying bodily sensations. Some people have described intense physical activity to me as being inherently pleasurable – I’ve played my fair share of sports at the insistence of my parents as a teenager, and never felt anything other than irritation during and after training, so hearing others say it feels like listening to an alien describing the awesome parties of Alpha Centaura.
This sincere distaste for being embodied extends to a lot of aspects of life that most people tend to find enjoyable – I don’t care much for travel, tinkering with things or the physical side of sex either. I constantly find myself actively not wanting to go places or do things with my hands, and would probably be among the first to start living in some VRMMO full-time, Ready Player One style, once (okay, okay, “if”, let a man cope) it becomes an option.
Is this some fairly unique side-effect of the ‘tism that makes me miss out on universal human experiences, or do some of you feel that way as well?
If I could digitally project my consciousness on and off by choice to free myself from neck/back pain so I can just read/think without concern for posture, hunger, etc. I would probably do it for >70% of my day.
But if it had to be a permanent one-time decision then no (at least not unless my physical condition deteriorates much further). There are too many real-world physical sensations that I can't imagine giving up: snowboarding down a powdery mountain, making perfect contact on a full-force tennis swing and knowing you set your feet in position perfectly and watching the ball go exactly where you willed it, cutting through the water with a well-executed freestyle rhythm.
I felt similarly to you about many things before trying out the above. I would say try out some physical activities that have that sort of instant and unique tactile feedback if you haven't. Rock climbing is another that seems popular for it, though I never really felt drawn by it. People talk about runner's high, or a sense of relief after an intense lifting session, but I absolutely hate running and weight-lifting. It'll be different for everyone.
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