I know no one can diagnose me over the internet but I wondered if anyone could give their opinion on whether they think I sound autistic.
- as a child, I sometimes told my friends I wanted to play on my own at break time to sort of have a break from them
- I was known as shy growing up
- I often prefer to do things alone than socialise, but do get lonely when I am alone. I like to go shopping for example either alone or with someone I’m very comfortable with eg my husband
- Parties and work drinks where it’s a lot of people and I don’t know many of them well give me a lot of anxiety. I am not very good at small talk and keeping a conversation going. I much prefer being in a small group (not even one on one) so I can contribute but not feel huge pressure to keep the conversation going. I get so scared I’m going to be left on my own and people will see me with no one to talk to, or I’m going to get stuck with someone I don’t know well and not know how to talk to them
- i enjoy going out and socialising if it’s people I know well and like, because I feel more comfortable
- I often worry that I’ve overshared
- I worry that I’ve been too quiet/boring
- I worry that I’ve said something offensive without meaning to
- I often used to get the wrong end of the stick with work at school. I would sometimes do some assigned homework completely wrong and be shocked that I’d done badly as I had no idea. Or I would get told off/get a letter home/get a bad parents evening review and would be surprised as I didn’t think I was any worse than any of my friends and they never seemed to get in trouble. I always felt that teachers or people in authority don’t like me
- have been called weird a few times behind my back and to my face
- on one occasion someone at school told me to ‘stop talking like that’ as though I was talking in a very monotone or annoying way (she wasn’t involved in the conversation, just nearby and was known to not be very nice)
- I have friends but haven’t had close ones since school. I tend to like to not get too close to friends as I like my freedom and personal space, although I sometimes feel sad that I don’t have a close group of girls like I used to at school. I am never short of people to go for coffee or dinner with but no one is a very close friend
Is everyone like this or am I autistic? Is this normal? I am constantly feeling ‘other’ in social situations or when I think about them afterwards. I often look At others during social events to see if they seem as uncomfortable as me, to see if everyone feels this way or not.
I sometimes think it’s autism, and other times think I might just be very sensitive and an overthinker. Thanks