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Hi, newly diagnosed, no idea what to do next

Piper

Over five years of waiting and I finally have confirmed that I’m autistic. It was mostly obvious to be, the signs were more than visible, though I still had that ‘what if I’m not and am just an imposter’ thought process whirring round my head more than I wanted. Now I have been told by a professional I feel I can relax a little. I have room to breathe again and take this all in.

One thing I’ve read about that I seem to do a lot is that I’m masking when I do things like work and going in to town, this they say is my way of coping with outside pressures, but it’s not recommended and I should stop because it’s unhealthy. I don’t understand how to stop this though, it feels natural to me to do it and I don’t think I could not do it if I wanted to. I think I’ve been masking every day since I was at school. It explains why I’m so fatigued now though. Masking gets me through each day. I can't imagine going to work and not masking, how else would I pass off as the 'me' every one knows me as there.

It feels great knowing I have autism but it’s also left me feeling very alone and isolated. I have this knowledge of who I am now but I don’t know what to do with this knowledge or if anything even can be done.

I waited so long for this and now I finally have what I was waiting for and it’s very much like ‘what do I do now?’ and I don’t know the answer to that.

Parents

  • Congrats on your diagnosis - that was some wait !

    My diagnosis was 3 month ago and after decades of masking I think it's going to take some time, I suspect could be years.

    On disclosure - at work my Line Manager & HR, at home my OH + adult kids , one parent, not my sister.  Just 1 old friend (who I see maybe once a year).  I may reach out to someone at work who is open about their diagnosis and see how they've found it.

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  • Congrats on your diagnosis - that was some wait !

    My diagnosis was 3 month ago and after decades of masking I think it's going to take some time, I suspect could be years.

    On disclosure - at work my Line Manager & HR, at home my OH + adult kids , one parent, not my sister.  Just 1 old friend (who I see maybe once a year).  I may reach out to someone at work who is open about their diagnosis and see how they've found it.

Children
  • in reply to Jalapeno

    Thank you. Yes the wait was crazy, way longer than I thought it would but it was worth it in the end. There were times where I was worried I had dropped off the list somehow, I did call up a couple of times, just to be sure I hadn't accidentally been removed from the list. Luckily all was ok, it was just slow.

    Congrats on your own diagnosis! I hope you feel you don't have to mask as much now, it's good you have people you have disclosed to, people who you can talk to if you need to. I think it's so important to have a support network, even if it's just one person. I can't tell my parents, they would never understand but my sister is a potential person to try and talk to about it. As for people at work, I've no idea if I could tell anyone there. I don't know how they would react about it.