About expending energy to be normal around other people, even friends, I'm definitely the same way. Before being diagnosed I tried to check people out at a register and the more I pretended to be normal and try as hard as I could to be social and respect some of the dumb customers the come in my line off and on. I progressively got worse, because it drained me more and more. It sapped my energy and the more it did that, the more I didn't care and the more I didn't care....well I lost that job. The boss only kept me, because he was hoping I'd get better. He had no idea about my Asperger's and at the time I didn't really know it either. I was still working on anxiety.