Masking

Bree (what a beautiful name by the way),

I tend to mask around people who I think won't accept my quirks and not so much around people I feel are quirky.  I feel that Autistics, although very different from one another are naturally drawn to each other.  If I look at my friends, we are all pretty straight talking and deep thinking people.  I love that I feel unmasked as much as is possible with them.  I do always have a caution in my head about how the other person may be feeling about what I'm saying so can't fully unmask apart from with my family though.  Even when I phone samaritans in struggling times, I can't say how I really feel as I'm aware how it will be affecting them so I can't truly offload.  That's probably why I like to talk out loud to myself, almost like a stim and therapy session rolled into one.

If I had my way, I'd be dancing in the supermarket, talking to myself and singing along to the tunes on my headphones - can you imagine? :-)

I always mask my anxiety when out but do let my friends/family know when I'm suffering.  It can be tough when it's a lot though as I fear losing them incase they get sick of me.... :-/

I think my mask when I'm out must literally a blank mask, I'm usually in my own little world and my face is blank, it dosen't help that I have resting *** face and look angry or upset most of the time, I'm not I'm just disengaged from others around me.

I have that look on my face also. My wife always says I look unhappy, vacant and like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders. Smiling a lot is mostly forced for me and doesn’t feel comfortable so my straight face as I call it fits me perfectly. 

I have that look on my face also. My wife always says I look unhappy, vacant and like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders. Smiling a lot is mostly forced for me and doesn’t feel comfortable so my straight face as I call it fits me perfectly.