Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi, everybody. I'll try to get to the point without blabbering on.
I have not been formally diagnosed, but it's obvious. I'm a woman in my 50s and although I'm not particularly interested in social interaction, I *am* tired of being "the only one who_____" all the time. Anyone relate?
Like I said, I don't need to be *around* other people like me. It would just be nice to know that there are some people like me, somewhere. It's hard not seeing oneself reflected in any way in the larger community. Does any of this sound like any of you? I'm not looking for personal messages or anything. Just a "yeah, me too" would be enough.
Thanks
Hi,
I am not sure how I feel about your feeling, but I can see some resemblance. Doctors and other mental health professionals have ensured me that I am autistic. It's not that I don't believe them, I just don't know how to feel about it, and it doesn't seems to do any good in my social interactions ( the realisation) and ironically I am talking to more people now, just they are medical professionals:).
Here is me-
Maria (formerly NAS88629) said:You'll never see me in heels or ladies' dress shoes. Why suffer?
This is fun. But I still don't know how it is for you. I hope this might help?
(P.S.: sorry about the long text, I don't do this a lot)
Thank you for your reply, Mark. I'm sorry to hear how hard things can be for you. And yet, I can relate...with soooo much of what you've written! Not just the social stuff, but ABBA and the Beatles are my two biggest musical influences lol. Must be something about that music...It's interesting to me that so many of us share so many things in common, yet we're invisible in the larger world. I understand that it's a "ratio" kind of thing...We're all meeting here in this group with a common element, yet in the real world we're all spread out.Still, I wish there were more people who understood us/were like us in real life.I'm curious--do *you* feel as if you're interesting or could be fun in some way to be around if people gave you a chance? People in my area go out drinking a lot--it's the main form of entertainment, even into one's 50s. If you don't do that or don't party, you're automatically boring. So people have pre-judged me because I'm not in that lifestyle. And on rare occasions when I do spend time with people, sometimes they still think I'm boring because all they want to talk about is shopping, beer, mani pedis, husbands, kids, etc....but sometimes they are surprised and say stuff like how fun I actually was or that I have a great sense of humor. Like, um, thanks?? Once they get to know me, they seem to think I'm not that weird. But it doesn't last long because I'm not in any social groups, so it's hard to keep up. It's kind of like...if people would take a moment and make an effort to match our energy/vibe, maybe they'd think we're not so weird and actually ok people. And maybe rather than toss us aside because we'd prefer to hang out maybe once per year at most, they'd still keep in touch but give us space and let us be part of the world more on our terms. But that doesn't happen.Thanks again, Mark, for your response. I hope things can get a bit sunnier for you.