• Feeling isolated? You're not alone.

    Join 20,000+ people who understand exactly how your day went. Whether you're newly diagnosed, self-identified, or supporting someone you love – this is a space where you don't have to explain yourself.

    Join the Conversation → It's free, anonymous, and supportive.

    As a member, you'll get:

    • A community that actually gets it – no judgment, no explanations needed
    • Private forums for sensitive topics (hidden from search engines)
    • Real-time chat with others who share your experiences
    • Your own blog to document your journey

    You've found your people. Create your free account

For anyone who was recently diagnosed, I think this video would really help you out a lot:

Gerald Wilgus said:
Having this understanding earlier in life, and I could have avoided a lot of pain!
Click to expand...

Last night I lay awake ruminating and I actually loved it because I now finally understand that this is part of who I am and not the symptom of mental illness as I have always believed. And for once in my life, when I thought of the "bad" things that have occurred in my life of to me, I could trace each thing to how my autistic mind percieves and experiences life. I am not "wrong", "immature", "overly dramatic", "thin skinned", or any other number of criticisims aimed my way. I am autistic. I like that.
 
Suzette said:
Last night I lay awake ruminating and I actually loved it because I now finally understand that this is part of who I am and not the symptom of mental illness as I have always believed. And for once in my life, when I thought of the "bad" things that have occurred in my life of to me, I could trace each thing to how my autistic mind percieves and experiences life. I am not "wrong", "immature", "overly dramatic", "thin skinned", or any other number of criticisims aimed my way. I am autistic. I like that.
Click to expand...
I wonder about my past and mental illness. While my autistic mind exacerbated my near paralyzing social anxiety, isn't that, in itself a mental illness? I need to grieve and put who I was to rest, but I cannot understand the decisions I made that were so damaging to my self image.
 
Gerald Wilgus said:
but I cannot understand the decisions I made that were so damaging to my self image.
Click to expand...

I take this sentence to mean you want to know "why" you made your decisions. Please correct me if I am wrong about that.

In any case, I don't think knowing why would actually be of help. Though, from what I see on this board, it is a very aspie thing to think about.

Please find relief in this thought: No one ever awakens to start the day thinking "I want to fail today. I want to make poor decisions and fall flat on my face. I want to humiliate myself. This would make me happy."

Instead you do your best regardless of the information you know or don't know. Or the experience you have or don't have. You simply get on with it and do the best you can.

If you could have made better choices or had a different perspective, you would have.

And here you are, with experience having created new perspectives that guarantee you are making different choicrs than you did before. You are still doing your best.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

New Threads

Top Bottom