Having a sense of self when you were young

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This is way off, you gain consciousness before you can even speak properly, but it depends on who it is.

But anytime past 8 is pretty unusual.

Up until about then (6th grade/12 y.o.) I had a habit of asking people questions that they really could not be expected to understand without me drawing them a diagram first. I'd sort of forget that other people can't see the inside of my mind the same way that I can see it. It was "egocentric," though ironically because my default mode is thinking that other people are sort of already inside my head. So, I did sort of feel like I was everyone or they were me or however to say it.

And I still do the thing with mirrors, "oh yeah, that's me. I have a face. That's what I look like to other people. I must remember to make a note of that."

This is a quote for the ages

+1!

I've remembered points in time where I know my brain was changing. I remember feeling my pattern of thoughts change sometime around 11 years old. I even said to myself, "I'm losing the way children think and gaining the way adults think. I will never feel this way ever again... I should write certain stuff down now, because I won't be able to come up with it again later."

I ended up not writing anything. However, I was completely right. My brain continued to change and very soon I lost my childhood imagination, I couldn't easily follow the thought patterns I had once used, my dolls bored me, and (as a physical effect) for the first time ever I felt body aches if I slept in a weird position. Stupid puberty. I've told people about this and they say they don't remember ever realizing the change. It makes me feel weird.

I also remember things from back when I was a baby, sometimes with surprisingly vivid recollection. I remember one point (can't really say how old I was, but I was still in diapers, so probably around 1 or 2) where I suddenly felt my brain think differently as well. It was like, before that moment, I felt like I lived "outside" my mind. Like I was always out in the world, it's hard to explain. I felt like people always saw me, that my whole mind was exposed. When the change occurred, I felt like I suddenly lived further back, inside my brain. Now I had a sort of cover over me, like I could hide in plain sight. It was sort of like entering "my own little world" for the first time. I remember even feeling aggravated that I was always in my head, wishing I could experience being "out there" again because it felt so different. Maybe before that point, I didn't have a sense of "self"? After that, I was acutely aware that I was my own person, I know that for sure.

Maybe that's why people often say to us, "Oh wow, I've never thought of that. What are you on? I want to try some!"

They then get disappointed when they're told, "Nothing, this is how I always am."

I'm sorry, I love that I can think like a stoned person without actually using anything. I sometimes feel bad for NTs that aren't able to. (Although sometimes it's a little annoying, especially if your school teacher refuses to believe you. It doesn't help that I'm inexplicably drawn to shiny things and can stare at pretty lights for hours. )