Living on your own with ASD, advice?

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I'd be grateful for any opinions or advice on this topic, about living away when your older.

So firstly, I've decided to move out from living with others in a student house, back to living with parents (twice this has happened now because I felt I couldn't stick with it)
At first I was enjoying it because it got me away from the stressful atmosphere living with parents, but very subtly over the few months I was there, I was enjoying it much less and my mood deteriorated. Back at home with parents it is familiar where people don't come back random times, and I had so much social anxiety living with other people and all my routines that made me comfortable were disrupted. And I was very hypo-sensitive around people I didn't know and couldn't be myself, I was getting so paranoid. So I'm moving back home and hope to make money to live on my own in future, not to live with other strangers.

But I want to ask, how can somebody with ASD actually feel comfortable living away from family and parents? I have a lot of health anxiety for example, and I usually just go to my Mum if I'm worried about something. If I wasn't living with anyone I would live in fear that something terrible might happen to me or I wouldn't know what to do, or I'd do something stupid like call emergency for no reason. This is escalated by diet also, I felt I had to move out because I felt managing my diet and eating healthily was too difficult to manage. The thought of having no one to see in case I'm doing something wrong or get a second opinion on something terrifies me. It could also be quite lonely especially if you struggle to actively be social, but it'd eliminate my uncertainty anxiety. I do hope to live with a partner one day but thats a little far away.

Do many people with ASD prefer to live with their family than actually move out on their own for a while? Or do they prefer to maybe rent somewhere with just one person, so there is less uncertainty?

I love living alone and it baffles my family. I completely understand the fear of potential emergencies but I accept that risk. I enjoy the freedom to set my own schedules and no one is there to get in the way. Wake up, breakfast, go to work, come home, dinner, movies/read/video games for a few hours, sleep. Do the chores on the weekends along with whatever else I feel like doing. No one to tell me otherwise.

Is there a specific reason why you're so worried about your health?

It takes a while to get used to living on your own, for anyone.

When you're first on your own it doesn't hurt to stay in touch with family by calling or dropping in to visit. Helps with the transition.

My college experience in the dorms was horrible. Don't know how I'd do it again. I'm 30 and live on my own on the other side of country from family and I absolutely love it. I don't really like hanging with family so it's probably different for me but I bet once you get used to it you are going to be overjoyed

I knew even as a child that I could never survive in a college dorm situation or group home setting. My mom was trying to get me into a group home out of state because she wanted me out of the house, but still contained in a way. She didn't think I could survive on my own until I ran away and spent a few days in a homeless shelter and that made her realize that I could survive on my own. We fought all the time mostly because she was emotionally and verbally abusive and when I tried to call her out on it, she would turn it all around and say I did it to her. I couldn't take it anymore and knew if I had to stay in that Hellhole any longer I would probably commit suicide. When I tried to tell her how I felt, she would claim I made her want to commit suicide. My mother will never admit to anything she did and even when I was a kid, she would claim to forget a lot of the pure mean stuff she said to me. Maybe she did. Anyhow, things got better once I moved out. I finally was able to find a job I wanted, something I possibly could have done back when I lived with her but she refused to let me try...one of the reasons we fought. To be honest, we could fight about anything, but this was a major trigger. Anyway, if I lived in a group home setting, chances are I would just regress or end up murdering my room mates and therapists. I need extended solitude like most people need air.

When it comes to health, do not look up health problems on the Internet. Call a trusted adult. And as long as you're going to the general doctor and eye doctor every year, the dentist every six months, and following their instructions, you'll be fine. The only time you need to worry is for common-sense things. Calling an emergency number for something that turns out to be minor is better than not calling them and having something go wrong, as any 911 dispatcher will tell you.

What specifically worries you about your diet? If you're eating wrong, your body will tell you. Unless you have a health problem or are trying to lose weight, you don't need to follow any diet to the letter. Your body also knows how to handle a few bad meals. That's what livers and kidneys are for, and other organs that I'm probably forgetting.

Maybe you could join a club or something, then you'd only have to concern yourself with getting to know a small group of people. Also, roommates can be friends and can help you with this stuff as well.

Maybe the reason student housing didn't work out was a communication problem. Next time you're living with someone else, try to discuss routines with them and if there's a conflict work out a compromise. Making a new routine is hard for the first week or two, but after that it's second nature.

You could get an emotional support animal also if you think that would help. Petting an animal lowers blood pressure and releases endorphins, and playing with and feeding them is a good distraction. They're also a good conversation starter!

Getting an animal to dump your emotional problems on is abusive. Animals have their own lives that they want to live; they don't want to provide free therapy to humans for their entire lives, and that's why the abusive trainers have to destroy all of the animals' natural instincts to make them into emotional support animals aka slaves.

I have roommates, but we all keep to ourselves. I'm on disability, so, until recently, I'm always at home. One is a supervisor for Coty cosmetics in Dundalk. MD (please, no Dundalk Jokes), second one is a hazmat handler for Harley Davidson, and the newest tenant is a PA State Trooper. They all work different shifts, so we don't see everyone at once.

I have lived on my own several times: in Chicago/Milwaukee/Rockford, IL and Philadelphia. Believe me, it ain't easy.

I think my cats need me more than I need them--they follow me around whenever I'm in the house.