Struggling to Fit In: My Experience as an Autistic Person

Now I just tell people I'm autistic and that i might talk too much or not at all or my timing is off.

I struggle with the same.. Honestly the only thing that I've done is to just straight up tell pretty much anyone and everyone that I'm autistic and so I'm sorry if I come across as rude or anything because I don't mean to and basically apologize for my struggles and any awkward conversation. But I realize I'm one of the lucky ones, and that it may not be safe for many to do that due to stereotypes and stigma in many areas. I grew up without a diagnosis but I have no idea what I did when my masking failed other than apologize profusely and overanalyze the scenario to try to prevent it happening again 🤦🏼‍♀️

Don't worry. We all have our ups and downs.

Yeah it’s hard. I’m lucky, my wife helps teach me how to socialize properly. When she’s not around, i have scripts i follow, especially at work. They help me come off as more normal. Scripts are the #1 way I came off as NT. Other than that, weed helps me act more normal also. I rely heavily on that. If you wanna chat my inbox is open. 💜

I struggle with the same thing, honestly i thought i was the only person who felt like this :/ what’s helped me is finding a couple of true, decent friends (through MUCH trial and error) who i can talk about my autism with. once they understood, they can get and appreciate my humor, and they could advocate for me in situations where others may think what I say is “wrong”. Remember you aren’t alone and that you can do this 💕

A lot of what I've come to learn about communication and social skills is that everyone socializes differently. From what I understand of your post, you seem to view all NT conversations the same. In reality, they're not. Everyone has a way of communicating with each other that's unique to them and their group/clique. Don't force yourself to be like them, because you might not be happy with the person you've masked as. It's time to learn to remove the mask. Be you, all of you. Of course there are some social etiquette things that you can learn, but in terms of casual conversation, you just need to find the right people to value you for how you are. Life is too short to mask, take it off and be all of you. You can DM me if you need more advice or want to practice socializing