more aspie qualities after "coming out'

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I think I've been (publicly) displaying more Aspie-like qualities since starting to tell people that I think I have/probably have the syndrome. I think most of it is that I finally feel "free" to act how I really am, rather than putting on the typical day-to-day mask. I've even noticed that I've been walking on tiptoes around NTs (but I don't think they've noticed!) rather than just keeping it to myself, for when I am alone. I realized how sick I was of trying to act "normal."

When I realized I was AS, I felt I started to notice those little things about me I had rationalized or just not noticed about my behaviour. At first I wa terrified, but a wise man who is AS too, told me that they already knew. (or if not known, at least knew something was up) After a while I realized I was simply being conscious of what others had noticed and knew about me all along.

It certainly is a strange awakening, isn't it?

Merle

It is such a strange awakening. I think stranger to the people around me than to me though.

My revelation was like the plot twists in The Sixth Sense or in Fight Club, where you say "oh, crap!". All of a sudden all of the things I did seemed to fit into an entirely different plot. My understanding of why things were happening as they were did a sharp 90 degree turn. I'm noticing things more and more, too, not necessarily doing them more. Things I notice include my tendency to act differently by myself than when around others, and how much energy I have had to put into appearing "normal".

I am certainly noticing more and more things. But I think I have been rampant lately in displaying several things, now that I know why I shouldn't have to display otherwise. Eye contact: since realizing I am probably an Aspie I have been more and more likely to not make a lot of eye contact, because why should I pretend anymore? I hate eye contact. There are very few people that make me want to look at their eyes. There is no reason why I should put myself through that if I am not compelled to do so.

well, yes, no one is compelling you to make eye contact, but it would be a shame if you just drop all the coping skills you have o painfully learned along the way. Don't look them in the eyes, by the way, look them in the 'business triangle' that starts at the bridge of the nose and extends up to about the middle of the fore head. This way it's the best of both worlds.

Coping skills are good, and they were hard won, jlefholtz. You just don't have to use them with everybody, I guess.

Merle

Perhaps this itself is a coping mechanism from seeing more and more differences between you and the NT world. If you're just finding out that you're autistic, there's a lot of things to process there. But perhaps I am way off

not so far off, this was/is my experience.

Merle

To WrongPlanet!! !

I definitely seemed to become more aspie like after diagnosis but maybe I just hadn't noticed my traits before, but there they were in glorious high definition

it's like getting a new pair of glasses!

Merle

Yes it is, my last pair were bifocals, you have to learn to walk down the stairs in them without falling, there is the looking across thinking you can see everything and then there is the looking down when what is closer is clearer.

If anyone gets that muddle lol