Do You Feel Like You Can Be Yourself With Other People?

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I have a habit of sounding arrogant around the opposite sex, especially when I want to impress them. Although, I don't like it when it happens.

There is a large number of people I can be myself around. Earlier tonight I was making my cat chase around a motorbike toy and I realised I'm often showing people my toys like I'm a little kid. I think in the live music environment I would try not to reveal that side of myself.

Yes,all the time.My family and friends truly encourage me to be myself and I always get compliments on how authentic,fun,intelligent and creative I am.I get compliments from men as well and that is gratifying too.

I've always been on guard, unless I am alone, as far back as I can remember. I spend my time with other people trying not to be weird; but, I can only keep it up for so long, it's very exhausting. The closer a person is to me, the less I edit; but, never completely myself, not even when I drink. I've actually gotten a lot better over the years. I use to run each sentence I was going to speak through my head twice, making sure it was ok to say.
I keep up a persona of being quite intelligent and mildly eccentric so when I screw up and say something weird people are reasonably excepting about it.
I use to live in terror that someone would see through my disguise. I learned to not ask questions, so people wouldn't see how slow and confused I really am.

I think being myself in public is great!! ! You can get a job, that temporary solution for a permanent problem. Be smarter about it than pritty much everyone, have a great time in your own head, do an awesome job while freaking out once in a while, and have people always tell you your strange, and ask you constantly what's wrong???? Tell you you have an additude problem??? When you don't. There is nothing wrong, I'm just me, and I love myself. I have a few life long friends, and they have known me long enough to know when people ask what's up with me, they just tell them that I'm just me and that's the way I am. Take it or leave it. I think the best time I have had being myself at a job was with a kid who was diagnosed with high functioning autism as a kid. Seemed like everyone had a problem with us, especially authority. That kid had real raw talent. I taught him everything I could, and now he is an awesome tech. He is my liitle bro!! He calls me big brother. I'm really proud of that kid.

I don't have a choice but to be myself with others. Sometimes it ticks them off.

When I get past my initial shyness and am comfortable with people,yes.I have a great sense of mind and intellectual curiosity,so I can be funny and curious and discuss things and really enjoy myself.

Have only been able to "be" myself with my late mother and my older sister.
My younger sister is such a messed-up aspie herself that she doesn't want anything to do with me, which is fine, because interacting with her is simply like walking on eggwhells and trying not to break any.

Lived with my late mother all my first 50 1/2 years, very co-dependent. She was probably an aspie too.
After she died, i depended on my older sis to give me advice on how to live, how to handle people.
She is definitely an aspie also, but has always had things her way and so has no hang-ups. Very wise woman. Straight to the point too.

Can never be myself around anyone else because they are unknown entities.
Have no idea how they are going to respond to me.

Cannot be myself in emails.
Almost always say something that confuses if not insults the NT i'm writing to.
All emails must be written in a very, very business-like manner. If i put an idea of my own in there, they don't know how to take it or take it wrongly.
Emails are bad that way because it is purely the written word. We don't know what our written words are expressing.
That leads to me making lots of friendly enemies.

i hope you found that somewhat interesting.

Apart from my life partner - whom I have learned to trust unconditionally after 17 years together - there is nobody else I am 'myself' with. I simply cannot let go of the control, I can't let them see who I think is inside my head. I haven't even opened up properly to my psychotherapist and I approached her! Whenever I have tried in the past it has gone horribly wrong and I have been left bereft by the experience. Wearing masks is part of everybodies lived experience, but some of us don't ever let them slip. It's one of the few things I envy NT's, even though they don't do it a lot of the time either .

i feel as though i have to keep up a constant facade in the company of others in order to keep my true self hidden. it is extremely difficult to keep it up. i can often catch myself making mistakes and after i realize these mistakes i will immediately try my hardest to avoid any human interaction at all costs in fear of getting 'found out'.

I am still learning to be myself around others. Usually I am a shadow of myself out of fear of upsetting them or hurting their feelings. Starting yesterday I began trying to be in the world as a more genuine version of myself. So far it feels good, though there are some very confused NTs in my life right now.

Paxil gave me the spontaneity to act in front of people beyond my anxieties. However, this has also led to me throwing myself into situations where I offend people. Especially after I end up irritable but am too involved to run away!

My wife gets seriously offended that I act like myself now. She always lectures me on putting up a political face for show now; especially when around my family (or strangers) with my wife present. I am blunt.

My oldest friends were here visiting recently, and I' was able to relax, laugh, and talk seriously about things. Yes, sometimes certainly I still evaluate my thought before speaking, but overall I feel SO MUCH more myself with them than with the acquaintances and casual friends who live nearby. I've learned to keep conversations fairly neutral and superficial most of the time-which can still be enjoyable but just very different. I don't hide my Aspergers, but also know to leave a social situation before I get so stressed that I get irritable and rude.

Loved the "trunk people" analogy-thanks!

All humans make adjustments to what they say and do around others, not just us Aspies-just the nature of social cohesion. My favorite cousin was always the family hostess for special celebrations, and she was spectacular at being "on" and ignoring her own exhaustion and worries. Now granted, she was more invigorated than drained by her hostess role, but she certainly wasn't "herself" in the sense of saying exactly what she was thinking-she was busy thinking of others. Everyone thought they were her favorite person in the world!

I have met well over a thousand people over my 30 years of life. I have only met two people who I felt like I could be my complete self with: my cousin/childhood hero/best friend growing up and the girl I fell in love with recently. I get too many negative reactions when I am my undiluted self. I get more and more closed off, more and more better at wearing a mask, the older I get. I learn the social expectations and act polite but distant.

I like to try and be myself around other people, however most of the time im not due to be scared of exposing myself and people making fun of me etc or even not approaching me due to me acting like me.

I onky feel like I can truly be me around close freinds I can trust and somebody that I love and loves me for me, with family though I it find it hard but for the most part I am quite comfortable with being me, im proud to be me but yet thats why im not sometimes as to aviod damage almost as even though I take pride in who I am as a person people can really hurt that pride if your not careful.

I´m on my guard, even in front of what is left of my closest relatives, but there is old family history in it,... so.
I can more or less relax in front of close friends, because they already discovered my AS traits, had their little laugh and has accepted. I don´t feel so ridiculed anymore as I did before dx, because I understand myself. I can take it with a smile.

In more "official" situations I am good at keeping up a smooth surface, but have been adviced not too, because bosses, for instance, feel cheated when my limitations and confusion in ordinary work situations become clear.
(I´m a music teacher by training, and that is something completely different.)

All in all, I am beginning to let my "strange" sides shine through, - and they´re probably not that different afterall, - but at the same time I look for new strengths or recognition for the ones I´ve got.

The two people i trust most in this world are my mother, and my ex-girlfriend Michelle. Even they don;t know some things about my life, and I often have trouble figuring it out for myself.