Masking and Neurodivergence: Do You Consciously Do It?

hey everyone! i just downloaded this app. i hope that it’ll help me talk to people that have similar issues about said issues, i have some of that in my life already, but it can be really hard for me to talk about some things, especially to people that i know irl. to get the conversation going, i’ll ask something that i have been especially thinking about today. to those of you with asd/autism (or maybe other forms of neurodivergence), do you consciously and purposefully mask? i have been thinking about it (in terms of myself) a lot today, and i think that i do mask, but it’s not an intentional, conscious thing i do. i think i have learned to view predominantly autistic traits as bad or annoying or cringy, because so so many others around me were! i want to unlearn this as much as i can, but i don’t really know where to start. i’ve always felt that it’s basically impossible to change my thinking, or at least very very difficult and big and overwhelming and i never know how to start. thank you to those who’ve read all of this! please let me know your thoughts!