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a blue moment

overthinkingonion

hi i am 21 i have had my diagnosis for about a year. i would be so grateful if anyone has any advice.

i have always wanted to be, not the way i am. life with this brain is not the way that i thought my life would be, how do i learn to like myself?

sorry, thank u :)

  • Hi overthinkingonion,

    Welcome to the Online Community! We hope that you find helpful advice and support here.

    Our after diagnosis pages may be of interest to you: https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/diagnosis/after-diagnosis

    I hope this is helpful.

    Kind Regards,
    Rosie Mod

  • overthinkingonion said:
    how do i learn to like myself?

    I find a good place to start this is to think what would make you feel proud of yourself - it may be giving time to charity, helping those worse off than yourself or maybe just helping out at the local animal shelter.

    Find the things that you value in others and see if you can find a way to do something similar yourself, adapting it for your autistic traits.

    Maybe there is a goal you have long put off as it seems too much hassle - just flipping get started and get on the path to doing it and you will be closer tomorrow than ever before.

    Another good place to start is to master your autism - learn about your traits and how other people cope with them so they can go about living their lives relatively comfortably and see if you can apply yourself to take in that info and practice the techniques.

    It won't be easy and there will be setbacks, but persevering and conquering is a great way to learn to like yourself and eventually love yourself, and in the meantime you are improving your life and maybe that of others around you.

    I would recommend step 1 being deleting social media and get back out into the real world - that tends to be a great mental detox to start you off.

    Good luck

  • Welcome to the forum. 
    I am trying to figure this out also (age 50)

    Just wanted to let you know you’re not alone 

  • in reply to whiteD404

    i’m glad i am not the only one

  • welcome aboard overthinkingonion, I am still learning the answer to this question myself in my 50's....

  • The problem is that there's a distinct lack of support for people post-diagnosis.  If you are struggling with mental health in general, I'd suggest you speak with your GP or self-refer to Primary care for some talking therapy.  This wont be ASD-specific though.  

    You could also speak to your GP about specific groups or activities that may be of benefit in your area via 'social prescribing' which your surgery can normally facilitate.

    https://www.autism.org.uk/autism-services-directory  is the NAS directory for services that have adapted for the needs of Autistic people, this may also be of some help.

    Many people struggle with self-worth - that isn't limited to ASD.  This is why I feel that your GP might be the best solution / first step.

    I wish you well & welcome to the forum.  I like the user name, btw.