Scared, lonely and depressed

Roswell said:

I'm not convinced anyone cares about anyone or anything.

Have you tried mindfulness?

This will help you ask questions like:

Why should people care?

Should they care about everyone or just some people? Who are deserving? Do they want to be cared about?

I tried this once and realised it was pointless to worry about.

My conclusion was that you can't make people care about anything - that would be violating their autonomy so it is a respectful thing to let them do their thing.

However, you can get people to care about YOU by being a good friend / family member and showing respect and consideration to them.

You can get friends by learning to overcome your lack of knowledge of social rules / small talk techniques and interacting as a neurotypical on occasion - this does come at a price so is best paced.

Understanding your autism and your own mind also help tremendously and a therapist is a great way to start this process then books etc to expand your learning on the subject.

In essence I found that stopping worrying about it, shifting my efforts to doing something about it and changing my mindset allowed me to have my fill of "normality" largely on my own terms. I can be as authentic as I want in my own time and amongst those who I know are accepting of my traits.

Roswell said:

I'm not convinced anyone cares about anyone or anything.

Have you tried mindfulness?

This will help you ask questions like:

Why should people care?

Should they care about everyone or just some people? Who are deserving? Do they want to be cared about?

I tried this once and realised it was pointless to worry about.

My conclusion was that you can't make people care about anything - that would be violating their autonomy so it is a respectful thing to let them do their thing.

However, you can get people to care about YOU by being a good friend / family member and showing respect and consideration to them.

You can get friends by learning to overcome your lack of knowledge of social rules / small talk techniques and interacting as a neurotypical on occasion - this does come at a price so is best paced.

Understanding your autism and your own mind also help tremendously and a therapist is a great way to start this process then books etc to expand your learning on the subject.

In essence I found that stopping worrying about it, shifting my efforts to doing something about it and changing my mindset allowed me to have my fill of "normality" largely on my own terms. I can be as authentic as I want in my own time and amongst those who I know are accepting of my traits.