chaosgoblyn

South Side Chicago is a legitimate ethnicity, I can confirm.

Hi I've been trying to impress a potential mate by showing off my large pile of rocks and exhibiting my hunting skills. I just keep getting run out of the trailer park though. What do?

Sounds like they nailed real life to me

That sounds like hell for both of you

Hi! I just learned last year with a surprise diagnosis. I went in thinking I was deteriorating from traumatic brain injury but it was just a good old fashioned autistic burnout. I'm in my mid 30s and I see this as the biggest thing that has ever happened to me, I already see my life as before this and after this revelation. I got along more or less fine, most of the time, hell I was even kinda popular sometimes, but I dealt with a lot of problems I didn't understand.

Learning about autism and joining the online community has answered every question I ever had about why I am so different and don't understand other people or get along like others do. Pretty much all of the weird quirks I thought were unique to me I have discovered that other autistic people deal with. I feel less alone talking about problems, and I have learned better strategies for coping. I have names for things now. I understand why my brain and body react the way they do now, and I identified problems I didn't even know I had. For example if I was stressed out I would try to tough through and make it worse, but now I know I can often do something as simple as put on noise cancelling headphones and center myself, or recognize that I'm holding on to a negative thought/interaction too much and do something else. Learning about the condition has taught me how to balance myself more against it, prevented meltdowns, and led to me learning to forgive and accept myself instead of thinking I was just lazy or broken or not as good as everyone else. I just have different needs, and as crazy as it sounds I had little to no idea what those needs even were. I had no idea I had a social deficit, I thought people were just overreacting to me all the time or crazy or too sensitive. Now I know that I don't have that same social awareness and knowing that has made me realize sometimes when I'm being too much or might come off as a creep or prying or whatever, because I don't understand the subtleties of those boundaries like neurotypical people do, so instead of just going on not getting it because I was judging by what I'd be comfortable with, I now err on the side of backing off or letting things go. I've learned why I was too trusting and got taken advantage of/abused in relationships. Learning how to balance myself has been awesome for my mental health.

That's not even getting into therapy and other resources. I have struggled to maintain employment my whole life, and a formal diagnosis means that if I get to the point of not being able to work, I can sign up for disability, or if I needed to, have a caregiver or a residential program. But even without that, just knowing has absolutely revolutionized my life and my identity.