Published on 12, July, 2020
This might seem a strange one or it's more common than I realise, either way, I'd be grateful for any answers.
Anyways, I'm 51 yrs old, recently diagnosed as autistic as mentioned here previously and trying to get to grips with things, like alexithymia and autism inertia but thats another story.
For 40 odd years of my life, I never truly had friends, I had acquaintances that lasted a couple of years and petered out, for the 1st time, I now have genuine friends, I have 6 friends that have been part of my 40's and now in my 50's, 13 years in total, 2 of them are from a very famous thrash metal band and attended my 50th birthday party.
I keep questioning why they are friends with me, what have I done to get such brilliant and solid friendships, I jokingly say it's because they are 500 miles away, just recently, one of them said they were coming up to Scotland and invited me to come up and spend the night with them, I must admit, I cried, He and his wife have done this a few times before but since my autism diagnosis, I found myself being more weepy than usual.
Is it normal to be constantly questioning yourself why you have real friends?
Sometimes our innate likeability can come as a surprise. After telling an old friend of mine (since schooldays) of my very late ASD diagnosis he said this, amongst other things equally complimentary, "I am surprised, but pleased that you feel you have an explanation for who you are. I have always found you to be delightful company, engaged and engaging. Humorous, generous of spirit and unashamedly individual." Needless to say I was enormously touched.
What an excellent compliment :)