Published on 12, July, 2020
Hey,
My name is Jamie and i found out i'm autistic in December at the age of 35.
There has been a mixture of emotions and mental states since then:
Relief: That i finally found out what was wrong with me after trying to fathom it my entire life
Sadness: That my autism was missed by myself and a long list of health professionals
Self-compassion: I've been beating myself up and being highly critical of myself my entire
life but i'm starting to be kinder and forgive myself for past mistakes and hurting people
Self-belief: I have more self-belief and confidence already because i've come this far in life
without knowing i had a disability
Self-esteem: My self-esteem is much better already a little over a month after realizing i was autistic
I found the videos on the NAS Youtube channel of people sharing their stories very helpful and could
relate very strongly to what they were saying and had gone through.
I don't know any autistic people in real life and my family don't seem to get it so thought it would be
nice to connect with some autistic people online....
Thank you very much
Welcome to the community
What you have described sounds very similar to how I initially reacted to my later in life diagnosis.
There's a useful article here on starting your autistic discovery journey https://aucademy.co.uk/starting-your-autistic-discovery-journey/
Again, thank you!
Welcome home, Mate!