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I'm literally a professional writer (editorial content and ghostwriting), and have finished a novel I'm now querying.
I've never done a rewrite, of client work or my own. Never needed it. By the time it escapes my brain and is dumped on the page, it says what I wanted it to say.
Went to my first support group meeting on Friday. It was...enlightening, I guess. Not sure I'll go back.
What I can say is that I left feeling both better and worse at the same time. I'm guessing someone else was feeling down and I wasn't on guard enough as I let my shield down to try and be more present for everyone there, forgetting what that does to me.
What I learned about auDHD today:
Being drawn to schedules, itineraries, and routines while simultaneously being utterly repelled by them is AWESOME.
And leads to getting So. Much. Done.
(I hope the tone was apparently there. If not, that was snarky/sarcastic/ironic)
Sigh.
Those errands that leave you one un-signaled turn away from an assault charge?
Yeah, those.
And how is everyone else's Sunday going?
Holiday dinner with family last night, followed by the farmer's market and errands this morning and it's all I can do to keep my remaining brain cells from jumping out my left ear.
The house we were at doesn't have blinds yet, so all I could focus on was situational awareness and how vulnerable I felt in such a well-lit fishbowl.
Is this more of the mask starting to fall away, then smacking me in the face when I push it too far?
Run errands, get overwhelmed.
Get back in the car, crank Rage Against The Machine.
Sure. Makes total sense.
I truly lucked out in the therapy department.
https://ilikehowyouthink.com/posts/lucked-into-the-right-therapist
Have you seen the YouTube ad for some migraine med? There's a person whispering into the mic and drumming on it lightly, a la an ASMR video...I've never been driven toward becoming stabby as fast as when that ad starts.
Misophonia is a new one for me, does it ever change, or will I forever tweak when I hear certain noises like that?
Is it all white LEDs that affect you? Like newer car headlights? Or the holiday strings of them?
I'm truly sorry you're going through that, either way.
I do OK with white ones, but there's a blue string light that's become more common that I can't deal with. It's the strangest thing as it's only this one color that I have to get away from...
I just learned what stimming is about and holy shit. I've been doing it my whole life without knowing why or how it was helping me get through the days.
Question for #actuallyautistic fedi-folks:
Can someone give me some pros and cons to being officially diagnosed?
I'm 47 and discovered my status literally a month ago. As I'm in the middle of a job hunt (13 months and counting since I was laid off)—I'm deeply curious to hear folks' stories of what happened post-diagnosis if you got one.
And if not, why not?
How does it affect your life either way?
Much thanks in advance.
I'm fascinated by the discussion/arguement around whether or not we feel empathy.
I'm an Empath for fucks sake.
I've known that about myself for a decade, and only discovered my status as autistic last month.
What I'm truly curious about, reading this, is whether more of us are actually Empaths and the issue isn't that we don't feel empathy but that we're often confused about how to show it. I know that's part of the double empathy...thing, but I think it goes further.
What makes all of this more confounding is that I also believe I'm alexithymic. So I feel everything I just can't put a name to what I'm feeling.
Could that combo be more widespread than we think?
Clickity-clack...writing away...
https://ilikehowyouthink.com/posts/2024-11-13-i-just-started-reading
Discovering my status as autistic while in the throes of what I thought was a depressive episode (I now understand this to be autistic burnout) has been quite the experience.
For more context, I'm also entering month 13 of unemployment after my team was cut in layoffs.
First thought: I'm too old for this shit (I'm 47).
Second thought: No, seriously, I'm too fucking old for this shit.
Third thought: OK, now what?
I'm just starting my first attempt to work out an answer to that last one and I have a feeling it's going to be a long, strange trip indeed.
Got an old blog resurrected to serve as a place to document my new journey, first post is up:
https://ilikehowyouthink.com/posts/welcome-to-i-like-how-you-think
Follow along via RSS, or I'll cross-post here, to get more about my current experience discovering my status and making the distinction between depression and what I now know to be autistic burnout.
Intro post:
Like my bio says, I recently discovered my status as autistic, and as I'm not 'out' in my daily life (unsure of the impact on my job hunt, for one) I made this account so I can research and learn from the wonderful ND community here on Mastodon.
I live in the PNW with my dog, who also happens to be my favorite hiking companion.
Aside from the trees, that is.
I'm a brand writer and executive ghostwriter by day and a novelist by every other waking hour. Currently querying my first novel and drafting #2 in the series about an intuitive investigator who might or might not look suspiciously like me.
I look forward to meeting you.
