Published on 12, July, 2020
I’m relatively newly diagnosed (in my early 40s) and recently been reflecting on the extent to which I mask. Some posts in other threads have questioned people’s masking at diagnostic assessment as if the person can choose when to mask and when not to. For me it’s not that simple - there’s masking I’m conscious of and ‘could’ stop if I tried/had to, but there’s other masking I definitely do that has been ingrained since childhood. I can’t just choose not to do this latter type and I’m working hard to identify all aspects of it at the moment as I haven’t been conscious of it but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t caused me problems - main thing being residual stress. Just wanted to share these thoughts. Has anyone else thought about this?
Yes - I have thought about this - lots.
The matter that needs to be resolved (in my opinion) is, "what is my core self." It is inevitably impossible to speak of masking in any meaningful sense, really, unless you know what it is that you are supposedly masking.
I have no clue as to how one tries to determine one's "core self " btw - and therein, lies the rub!
My core self is crazy.
Kicking the ball down the road there Desmond.........now define "crazy" !
GOOD answer! Bravo.