Things Starting To Click.

Post Reply New Topic

I'm 22 Years old and ive recently spent 6 months doing therapy for a Mild Case of Anxiety. Now i have successfully conquered that path, figuring out what causes have those anxious thoughts about things. Now that i have figured things out i have discovered and acknowledge and are at peace, that my life is good, I have good mates, I have a job and currently doing a Traineeship, I'm Participating in Sport, I am able to comfortably talk to Women, I have a Drivers Licence. My life is good and i can get on with things and be able to work on the areas i need to.

Is there a stage in an Aspies Life where your mind opens up a little bit more?

I don't know if there's a stage.

What I do know is that in the last three years, i've been able to take care of and deal with a many of my problems, although not all of them. I've been able to grow up quite a bit, partly because a few things forced me to, and also in part because I just was at a point where my mental capacity allowed it. I feel that I was just not capable of dealing with the problems before. I'm 32 now. I know that other people with same or similar issues have no problem with them, or had doors opened and helping hands that allowed them to succeed and mature at a much younger age.

There have been many stages in my life, but they seem to have correlated a lot with my luck in who I was spending time with than anything arising from AS. Being a teen is almost always harder than being twenty something for anyone.

Congratulations! During my 20's, 30's, and even 40's I found that if I paid attention to my personal challenges and took advantage of things that help me meet and overcome them (therapy, workshops, self-help books) my life experiences definitely trended upward over these decades.

I say "trended" intentionally, There were definite ups and downs, both daily and longer. As I peeled the onion of my character, each revealing something new to work on and improve, there were strain-filled times that required more effort than others. But the overall trend was definitely upward. My Asperger's has placed some upper limits on how far I can go in certain areas, but I experienced greater progress that I thought possible. On good days I can even pass as NT for 2-3 hours at a time. (Sometimes that is a good thing; sometimes it is less good.)

I'm no neuroscientist, but a doctor once told me that during one's 20s and 30s the brain is sufficiently still forming that learning new stuff and adapting new behaviors can sometimes be more easily accomplished than later in life. If that is the case then yeah, you are well-placed for learning and adopting new ways of thinking and behaving that can improve your life. Enjoy!

I found out about my anxiety problems about a year ago and just knowing that it wasn't my aspieness that made it hard but my incredible anxiety and worry I've been able to make a lot of changes for the better. It's still hard and I still have missteps but I'm getting better as time goes by and I talk to people I open up some I tell jokes and it feels great.

There are cycles. I'll have months or even a couple years where things are generally going good and then months or a couple years where everything is a struggle and it's tougher than heck to get out of bed in the morning.

A lot seems to depend on external factors beyond my control. I wonder if this is normal for NT's as well.