I have really been isolated my entire life, although I have had relatively close friendships during childhood and adolescence. Despite those friendships, I have always felt different and isolated from most kids my age. I never really felt like people understood me, either because I was more cognitively mature/advanced or else I just thought differently. I always was able to relate better with adults, especially during adolescence. From ages 10-14, most of my weekends were spent with my great Aunt. During family parties, I would always sit with the adults and listen to their conversations rather than hanging out with family who were around my age. I eventually learned to think and act like a mature adult. When I was 14, in January of 2003, my great Aunt died, which had an odd but profound effect on my mental health. At her wake I was talking to the director of the funeral parlor; he asked me about school, so I told him I was a freshman, and he assumed freshman in college when really I was a freshman in high school. Many of my peers who were my age often commented upon my ability to converse like an adult, and, despite my real age, I always felt like an adult rather than a high school teenager. Consequently, I deemed most kids my age to be too immature to hang out with.
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Autistic (self-identified)
Open source, free software, and open knowledge geek
GoLang, Python, & SysAdmin aspirant
RPG enthusiast
Has OCD, social anxiety, CPTSD