Unbearably painful. Thanks for asking!
Up and down. Anxiety, at least one auto immune disorder (likely another one or two since I have like no energy fairly often), no job (see: anxiety), no friends (see: everything else), and when I stop and let the thoughts start up or if something really sets me back I spiral into a depressive hole. All and all it’s okay right now. Everything sucks but I’m making the best of it and most days are more middle ground than anything. Thankfully I live with my mom and she is supportive of me and just wants to help me find happiness (she sees it as repaying a shitty childhood). I try to not abuse her generosity so I cook for her and help her with stuff.
Nothing special for me. Doing an okay job at the whole college thing, getting ever so slightly better at the whole socializing and not getting anxious thing (though you’d never guess I’ve made slight improvements with how minimal the gains are in terms of noticeability), and in general life is fairly decent so long as I have access to a computer or phone for music or other entertainment when I’ve got nothing else going on.
AuDhD. I have it good. Three kids, steady career, house.
Tend to have a big honking burnout every 4 years that ruins me for months, but hopefully taking better care of myself now means I’ve seen my last one. Earplugs, ritalin, diet, job with mostly remote days, etc.
Haven’t gone temporarily blind from touching my shampoo wrong in years.
Late potential diagnosis, took another 10 years (and 2 diagnosed kids) to actually get myself properly checked.
I wish I had had more resources back when I was growing up because a lot of the challenges were related to things that I now know were not just me “being weird”.
Finally found a partner that tries to understand, is learning about what it all means, and is actually curious about the differences, especially when it comes to how we see, process, and experience things. So life is looking up, honestly.
But I know I have nothing to complain about because I have a good life and my kids are getting a lot more support and understanding and hopefully they will have a much happier life experience.
How about you? What is your experience like?
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No worries, mate.
It’s hard.
I’m known as a big asshole in my neighborhood. Some stranger took a video of me having a meltdown the other day.
But life is supposed to be hard. That’s the first noble truth. I’d rather life be hard than boring, and my life is not boring, and for that I’m thankful.
I’m an uber driver so I get to practice my social skills all day every day. An autistic person with sharp social skills can be a teacher. I just had a passenger, also autistic, recite an entire Shel Silverstein poem to me.
I retain knowledge well, and being an uber driver is an opportunity to gather interesting knowledge and then cross-pollinate it into the world.
I don’t know how else to answer the question. More specific questions would probably yield more interesting answers.
On the waiting line for a diagnosis (I should call them btw), unemployed despite having diplomas. Those last days I am facing a weird puzzle: I have to get analyzed at the lab, which is open from 7:30 to 11 am, and need to be exactly 12h fasting at that moment, but my daily routine involves a big meal at midnight and skipping it would make me well over the 12h fasting duration (and being hungry isn’t very fun as you may know). I think I will manage it somehow but currently that’s a bummer.
Better: a gal I like a lot is visiting this weekend and it’s going to be great. She is one of the only people with whom I am able not to mask.
Also that’s a great season for mushrooms. Got a full basket of chicken of the woods last week and still have some left.
I had an almost-nonverbally autistic passenger (I’m an Uber driver).
I had the windows rolled down and the music on. After a block or so I asked him “Is the wind too much?” He sort of squeaked out “yeah”. So I rolled up the windows and put the AC on. A minute later I asked him “Is the music also too much?” and he said “yeah” in the same way. So I turned off the music.
It was so nice to sit there in the AC with no music, and not feel the need to talk to keep my passenger entertained. I mask really well. So well in fact that I forget how exhausting it is.
I was able to drop my mask with this guy. I didn’t have to use my “natural/casual” body language; could just sit there stiff backed, not moving my head. It felt so natural and easy. It’s like I had forgotten who I am.
I wanted to tell the guy “It’s really nice to have a passenger who doesn’t need anything from me”, but I didn’t because I figured he was also enjoying the silence.
I know it sounds bigoted of me to say, but NTs are so high maintenance. I’ve gotten used to providing the constant stream of comforting gestures they expect, and it just felt so good to let all that drop for twenty minutes while I drove this guy home.
I’ve had ups and downs… currently riding a great up. I figure I can retire in 13-17 years and then I’ll die. :)
