Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello, Im fresh off the diagnosis. Amazed, relieved and overwhelmed. Im having help to integrate this understanding of myself. But i want to connect with others. please say hello. I have always overfelt everything, light, smells, sounds, peoples emotions and not had a clue why i am so exhausted all the time from it. And now ahh that's why.... I am autistic.
Im 48, female, I will always get overwhelmed but this is my first step into connecting with others.
Please say hello
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Hi and welcome. I'm new too. At 55, I've spent many years wondering why I'm not like other people - knowing I'm autistic is going to help me look at my life in a more helpful way. I hope. Being overwhelmed by sights, sounds, smells and people is something that sounds very familiar! I now know why I've been taking sandwiches to work my whole working life and avoiding the canteen at lunchtime...
Thank you Bumper, I always felt that i missed lessons that others learnt. With frustration and sadness I look back at the amount of effort i put into trying to pretend to fit in. Years of studying behaviour just so I could learn how to connect with and be like normal people, I hear the shadow ringing of 'why can't you just be normal' from teachers and adults said to me as a child. It's a bittersweet joy to find this now.
Is 55 now viewed as mid life? I hope so.... here to greater ease and self compassion for the time ahead.