If you are Aspie, do you accept yourself as you are?

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There should be an in-between option, since I'm sure there are many people who crave a bit of normalcy. I have long accepted that I will never change. Am I happy with that? Not all the time, I get frustrated with myself because I hate feeling like the black sheep.
I can't remember the last time I socialised, and although I love being on my own since there is far more stability and everything is predictable, it's really f***ng confusing when hormones kick in every month.
I feel like my body is judging me, haha.

Some days it is too much, and other days I feel as though I can deal with all of this crap on my plate.

Well, I hope that this takes some of the pain away:

Any given day is a new beginning. Every new day is a new start: you have from this moment forward to do things a better way.

I saw a great quote once, it said "even God can't change the past".

Live to your strengths, and seek people who either understand or who support you for who you are.

And let's talk again in a year or two

I would say 'yes' but that would only be recently. I had a REALLY hard time understanding why so few people wanted to spend any time with me even though I was such a loyal friend. I could never understand why I was bullied so much and when I followed 'expert' advice, things went from horrible to downright unbearable. I could never understand why some men can have women flock to them like moths but when I study and copy them I go from little interest to none.

It's much easier to just be myself rather than worry about what others (negatively) think about me. Now that I understand ASD. I understand there is nothing wrong with me, I'm not intentionally being rude, hard to deal with, etc and I can me comfortable in my own skin. It sucks being alone most of the time but I would rather that than be around people who demand I become someone else before they accept me. It's just unfortunate that the ones who do understand me are usually seniors or children.

Tough question, I accepted the fact that I won't have much of a social life and most won't never have a job again.

But I voted the second option as I wish I was normal, I'm so effected by AS that I can't hide it.

For some reason I have never accepted myself, before and after diagnosis. To me, before I was diagnosed, I thought I could do anything with enough effort and resources... I was blind to how much I was ruining my life with my limitations that I couldn't see....

Now it's a huge wake-up call... and a blow to my pride (actually it's completely annihilated, I have zero confidence to make any decision). I don't know what to do anymore. I hear about people overcoming their obstacles with this disorder and all I can see is the ways I've messed up my life and continue to do so.

Why can't I just finish something.... oh yeah, co-morbid ADHD and generalized anxiety disorder. Yum.

So I think the key to accepting yourself might be in accepting what's wrong with you? I don't know.

Know yourself, know what you are good at, and try to focus your activities on that.

Personally, I like the school of thought that questions all these "disorders" that we are being bombarded with. Who's to say that ADHD isn't a personality type?? What if all it means is that you need frequent and constantly changing stimulation to be at your best? If so, maybe you need to find activity that plays to that type of a mind.

Ditto with AS: I truly doubt that it is a "disorder", but more of a difference - a difference that goes against the grain, and is therefore seen as a flaw by the majority of people. However, there are strengths that come along with it - namely, the fact that autistic minds are "specialist minds", as Temple Grandin has publicly said.

Just some thoughts there.

Yes, it's just those other people that are the problem.

I've come a long way in the last several years.

I do accept myself as I am... My mother tried to teach me that from an early age, to accept myself always. My autism is only part of that, it encompasses a lot more.

Yes because i am able to do most things despite my social skills are somewhat short but overall being different works for me and i feel i don't have to fit in with other people and do the same things what they like.

I think I would like to be an NT, life is much better and there are more possibilities, we Aspies are very restricted, we'll miss so much in life that NT's have .

Yes. It breaks my heart that I can't keep a job, but I believe that it isn't because I have nothing worthwhile to contribute but because I don't fit in. I wouldn't want to be someone else who might fit in better with people I can see are not all that admirable.
I don't like having trouble communicating and making friends, but I wouldn't want to be more like the people who reject me: less logical, more into status, more of a herd animal. I like being able to see things the way I do.
Obviously sensory issues are not fun, but I can't imagine not having them without losing sensitivity and attention to detail in general, and I wouldn't want that.

When I viewed myself as broken and flawed, it was hard not to fall into depression. Now, it's hard not to be taken over by anger at the people who make things more difficult than they need to be, but I understand that it's rarely deliberate on their part and if I want to live a decent life I need to learn to self-advocate and bridge the gap.

I haven't read the thread, but I have to say that you have to accept yourself[b] no matter who you are.

The world will always be against you, will always try to drag you down, and will find anything to use against you. We all have our differences, and in the scope of things, it could be a lot worse. Our struggles are significant, but you have to give yourself strength. You have to be your own best friend.

No, it would be a mistake to accept it as a "good thing" or "Just being different". I can always make improvements. If I do the above, I might start not trying to overcome the challenges. a challeng is a challenge, not something I will just live with. (well ok, the shoe thing, but everything else is FAIR game!).
Of course, I am High functioning classical autism, not Aspie, so...

Sincerely,
Matthew

It's a relief knowing that I have AS but it also means I will likely be forever misunderstood.With awareness,I can see how the deck was stacked against me, socially and there was a reason why I struggled [particularly as an adolescent]in school and why I was always so uncomfortable at most social gatherings.I am content as an Aspie and am aware of the benefits having AS can bring.The only negative for me being an Aspie is the tremendous difficulty there is inherent with trying to have any kind of romantic life.It's like I haven't got a clue about how to go about it .

No

If I was "just like everyone else", I wouldn't be "me", and I've come to like who I am.

Knowing about AS means I can think "okay, I was born like this, so there always will be certain ways in which I am different/limited, but that doesn't mean I can't do my best to overcome them, WITHOUT berating myself for stuff I can't do (at all or as well)."

In other words, I don't have to blame myself for being a "weirdo" or "screw-up", but I don't have to make excuses, either.

One of you said something about seeing things differently and being saddened when you can't do anything about a problem (like if something is wrong with a person that no one else notices). Ditto. I see more and more of that every day, and it can be frightening/depressing. Some might say that ignorance is bliss in a case like that, but since I can't conceive of living with those "blinders" (again, I'd be a completely different person), that point seems moot to me.

What bothers me the most is that "acting normal" is incredibly draining, and I have to do that every day at work.

However, no--I don't want to be just like everybody else.