Welcome to Wrong Planet.
I think the first important step is to identify which autistic traits you struggle with the most; they do interact to a degree, of course, but it will tell you where to concentrate your efforts. Even within the narrower category of high functioning Aspies there's can be huge differences in which traits have the most impact day-to-day (and "high functioning" itself is not so easy to pin down - IQ-based measures tell only part of the story). Since I started using the forums when I was first diagnosed a few years ago, I've even discovered quite a few behaviours and sensory quirks that I had never imagined might be autism-related; the behavioural models of most professionals barely scratch the surface, really.
A couple of things that can be applied to most of us, though, are anxiety management, and somewhat related, looking at how hard you have to work to compensate for your autistic traits when dealing with everyday life ("masking"). Tackling those is what can free up the energy that you might need to tackle any other problems, IMHO - though of course, you can throw that out of the window if there's a specific problem that's having a huge impact on your life right now.
I'd start with settling into the forum a bit, and have a browse through the recent threads to see if any discussions catch your eye - I'd be very surprised if you don't find one or two where someone's talking about an aspect of autism which you've never had the chance to discuss openly with anyone before. And don't be shy about asking whatever questions you need to, as said above, many of us here have walked a this path before, and you won't get better advice than from those who've lived through similar experiences.
And one last little bit of advice. Don't try to cram it all in at once - I found that it can be very tempting to over-indulge in research once you find your feet here!
Best wishes.
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When you are fighting an invisible monster, first throw a bucket of paint over it.
15 Oct 2019, 10:45 am
