Just wondering if anyone can relate to this....

[PandaWorld]

I am 39 and for a few years, I have really started to worry that I may be autistic.
I have always been very shy and highly anxious. But then my mother's side of the family all are so I always put it down to that. I had no trouble making friends in school although I always preferred small groups. Then there are other things like looking extremely young (People still put me in my late teens or early twenties) as well as many people commenting on an accent. Again, my nan and mum both have slightly different voices to the norm despite us all living in the same area. So I question whether all the above is just inherited family traits or if I am actually autistic.
Autistic children are always drawn to me and I also wonder if there is a reason to this.
I've never married or had kids either.
I don't think it's worth seeking a diagnosis as not sure it will really benefit at this point in my life but it is playing on my mind so wondered if anyone could relate.
I don't have issues with changes in routine or reading social cues to also add.

Perhaps a place to start would be looking at some YouTube videos from Tony Atwood and Sarah Hendrickx, she's really quite funny and they definitely made points I could recognise in myself.

If you research a bit about autism in women, it often presents in different ways to men, you might find more things that you relate too.

Armed with more research you will find more answers to your wondering! I think though the waiting lists are horrendous for people to get a formal diagnosis, that's not to put you off, just be prepared.

I was diagnosed later in life, and it has made a difference to my life, especially in the way I am a lot kinder to myself in daily life, and helped me be more dismissive of idiots who can't cope with the fact people are not all identical, rather than ruminating on their words.