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Peatsmoke
Hi! I'm Michael. I'm originally from the USA, but spent most of my life in the UK, and now I live in the Czech Republic.
I've known I was an Aspie for a few years (actually I suspected it long before - my mum was always banging on about it... not in a bad way). When I was a kid, it was pretty obvious - lots of stimming (often involving handflapping and jumping up and down), reading train timetables for hours on end (even out loud, when I was really excited!), talking to myself, making strange noises during conversations, feeling like I was literally from another planet (I used to tell people I was from Uranus, until I worked out why they started smirking...), being completely lost in social situations and avoiding social contact as much as possible because of the stress and anxiety it caused... etc etc.
In adulthood, though, it's been much less obvious - although everyone can tell that I'm somehow different. None of those things have completely disappeared, though; they're just more manageable. The most difficult thing to cope with now is the empathy. I feel other people's emotions pretty deeply, especially if I feel close to that person, and especially if the emotions involve sadness or despair - joy and ecstasy don't really affect me that much (just my luck!). This can be completely overwhelming at times - the more I like the person, the more overwhelming it is... And then it's meltdown time.
Anyway - look forward to chatting to you all! Cheers.
I've known I was an Aspie for a few years (actually I suspected it long before - my mum was always banging on about it... not in a bad way). When I was a kid, it was pretty obvious - lots of stimming (often involving handflapping and jumping up and down), reading train timetables for hours on end (even out loud, when I was really excited!), talking to myself, making strange noises during conversations, feeling like I was literally from another planet (I used to tell people I was from Uranus, until I worked out why they started smirking...), being completely lost in social situations and avoiding social contact as much as possible because of the stress and anxiety it caused... etc etc.
In adulthood, though, it's been much less obvious - although everyone can tell that I'm somehow different. None of those things have completely disappeared, though; they're just more manageable. The most difficult thing to cope with now is the empathy. I feel other people's emotions pretty deeply, especially if I feel close to that person, and especially if the emotions involve sadness or despair - joy and ecstasy don't really affect me that much (just my luck!). This can be completely overwhelming at times - the more I like the person, the more overwhelming it is... And then it's meltdown time.
Anyway - look forward to chatting to you all! Cheers.
- Birthday
- Mar 19, 1972 (Age: 53)
- Location
- Czech Republic
- Diagnosis Status
- Aspergers Syndrome - Officially Diagnosed
- Gender
- Male
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