Social regression

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Over the last 2 years I have worked really hard to come out of my shell and make friends and actually socialise. I have never really done this. I have had friends in the past but they have always been few and far between. In high school, myself and one other person used to sit in the music department and hang out together. If my friend was not there, I would read a book. This worked well for me. At parties, that I was dragged to, I would usually hide in a side room and play computer games, usually drunk people would come in and have relations and i would hide because they assumed the room was unoccupied. I have always been a solid introvert.

This changed when I discovered and got diagnosed with my ASD. I decided to try being extrovert. After recent events, I have discovered I have socially regressed and have little desire to see people at all. I feel like a 14year old socially stupid teen again. This isn't a bad thing but it is interesting. I think I am going to get back into gaming and various other internet projects again.

Has anyone had experience in social regression? Or even tried to be social and discovered it isn't for you?

Yeah. And then there are these tipping points where I end up doing something like dancing in my underwear on the roof with "LAMO" painted on my chest in avocado dip, which everyone thinks is funny or fantastic at the time, but then everyone avoids me afterward and I get all depressed. But I make all my intellectual progress in that time until I get lonely enough to take another major dive in the social pool usually a couple years later after everyone's forgotten or moved away or just grown up more than I have so they don't care.

You can keep the social life. I am an introverted hermit, and don't care for it. I am not anti social, just non social. My being this way drives my extroverted father crazy. He thinks introverts are either depressed or nuts, so he's always pressuring me to socialize. I am in my 50s. If I haven't become social by now, it ain't gonna happen. Also, having to socialize with people is what depresses me, not being a solitary introvert, because people leave me feeling extremely stressed and drained. My father is not able to comprehend that some introverted hermits are not bothered by being alone, and are not nuts. He only sees the two bad options, and doesn't believe the third way exists.

Well, at least I live alone, and not with my father.

Yes.
I forced myself to be more social a few years ago. (Before I was diagnosed.)
I went to a lot of parties and had a wide social circle.
But it burned me out. After a few years of attempting to "cram" knowledge of social interaction into my brain, and doing well at it (it was my "special interest" at the time) my brain just shut down and said "nope, no more of this."
I just couldn't handle it anymore. My health was suffering. Couldn't keep up with so many friendships and acquaintances, I spread myself too thin.
My health is way more important than having a bustling social life.
Socialization is just not my thing.

So now I am back to my old introverted self. I am much happier, to say the least. And now I am back to not being able to have a proper conversation or have any sort of small talk. I am back to being my freakishly quiet self all the time. I know I have those social skills somewhere in me, if need be I can try to pull them out.

But yes regression is possible.
Funny you posted this was going to post something similar as I was thinking the same thing.
Been having a lot more trouble socializing lately.

Your social skills may be improving but not at the same rate that you are challenging your social skills. Maybe, now that you are testing your social skills you could be become aware you of abilities as to compared to how you remember your social skills.

No I have fully regressed. Simple things like walking "normal", maintaining eye contact, using appropriate banter, not looking autistic are beyond me at the moment far less actually being "friends" with people

I go through phases where I want to be social for a while then for a while I have no interest in it. When I get in the "I want to have fun" phase I'll go visit friends and go out with them and stay with them for a night or two or they will stay with me for a night or two and it's great. I don't get tired of them, I don't want alone time, I'm having fun. Then suddenly one day I wake up and it's like "eh..." and I'm not interested in it again for months.

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I'm giving it another shot. We will see.
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