Hello all,
I'm 29 and two years ago I became suspicious that I might be autistic. I remember it had something to do with the pants I was wearing and I just frustratingly told myself: "I must have some sort of sensory disorder!" I have always had trouble with the sensory aspect of clothes (and would often change clothes several times a day because what I was wearing was bothering me). I googled sensory disorders and sensory processing disorder and autism were the only two explanations that appeared. Sensory processing disorder didn't quite fit the bill... there were several symptoms that I did not relate to at all. Since that moment I have deeply delved into all the information I could find on autism and took all the self-diagnostic tests that I could find and let's just say... I've always scored high on ANY test I take and these were no exception! 
I'm quite confident now in my autism self-diagnosis. I am autistic. I know that self-diagnosing is a bit of a heated topic in the community, so if you have anything mean or unhelpful to say then maybe just... don't?
Right now I'm really struggling with autistic burnout and fatigue. Somewhere in the past decade or so I lost... something. I remember being passionate about... stuff... but now I even have trouble remembering what it was that I used to love. I know I used to love to write, and I'm trying to rekindle that passion (taking a Poetry Writing class at the moment). I love my dogs and my cats and my husband. I love to garden but that is troublesome because being outdoors can be too overwhelming on my senses (wind, sunshine in my eyes, dirt on my skin, scratchy materials that make me itchy, barking dogs, vehicle noise, neighbors, chirping birds.... it's so MUCH). I guess at the moment I'm just trying to complete each day and to give myself as much grace as possible. I realized last night that I was sorely aching for a community in which I could gain a little solace by sharing my experiences. That's how I ended up here.
I hope you all have a lovely day, stay hydrated, and enjoy every moment of peace and happiness that you can find.
