For you all

Well said! 

I do recommend this forum to those in need of connexion and help understanding differences. One can often feel a bit too unique in the world. 

Yeh no worries you are very helpful

True 

I agree - we are our best advisors, counsellors and advocates 

AKA "Stop the world, I want to get off"!

Aww same to you 

Happy to be Helpful! 

Big ((((hugs)))) to you.

Wow that’s good it must be fun helping the young ones. They need help for sure.

Yellow tree 118 said:

let’s be honest, so all we have is each other to give guidance and support to each other.

Yes, and I’m happy, that we have each other for that. Advice from others never worked for me, often even from mental health professionals. But advice from autistic people works for me perfectly. What I find wonderful about places like this is that we can communicate and we know, that we are not alone with our struggles. Something that was hard or impossible for our autistic ancestors. 

Yellow tree 118 said:

I wish when I was younger I had just done what was on my mind and not thought so much about it.

Yes, me too. But in my case it was me hearing that I shouldn’t even try because I will fail. I wanted to be an architect and unfortunately I listened to this advice from my family. Ad I’ve never tried. I’m happy at least I managed some things in my life. For me this world is always huge scary and too dynamic. I often begged the world in my thoughts “please, stop changing, stop for a moment, let me breathe!”

Yellow tree 118 said:

The only thing I regret in my life is not living enough, I wish when I was younger I had just done what was on my mind and not thought so much about it.

I have a similar regret and have taken steps to help others avoid this same mistake.

I work with autistic school leavers now and offer them advice on the transition from the education environment to the harsh realities of the working world.

A significant part of this is keeping checks on the "big picture" plans for life. This is especially relevant as many (myself inclided) are inclined to shut ourselves away because the world can be painful at times

Teaching the teenagers to balance their work on the future, keeping aware of the present and learning from the past is a big topic and part of this is to learn to regularly take steps to the big picture goals like seeing more of the world but in a way that is manageable for you.

I've just had a week of dentist, annual health checkups (being in my 50s this is an important way to catch a lot of stuff before it gets to be an issue) and have an eye test to book still. It really helps to set reminders for all this stuff otherwise it gets swept under the rug as too much change / inconvenience to deal with.

I've been back to the gym for a few months and the results are good with a steady growth in strength and stamina so I'm as fit as I was in my 30s.

After 4 months of rest I'm about to head back to renovating more apartments (just sold the ones I finished 4 months ago) so the finances are looking solid.

The key to all of this is planning, scheduling and following up on stuff - not our natural strengths.

Also any day could be my last and it’s just realigning and appreciating that. I mean autism is a neurodegenerative disease that means as we get older our brains don’t work the same anymore. We become more anxious and withdraw more into our shells. We should just enjoy the present moment because once it’s gone we can never get it back again. Don’t let this moment slip away appreciate the here and now. The only thing I regret in my life is not living enough, I wish when I was younger I had just done what was on my mind and not thought so much about it. From now on I will live everyday like the last one I will ever live. Life is so short and it’s too good to waste. We can’t cure our autism we have to live with this. There’s no getting away from it. Just make everyday count. Because you don’t know when it’s going to be the last.