My introduction

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Hi there. I was recently diagnosed with autism. I have had a variety of different mental diagnoses throughout my early childhood until now but they never thought to test me for autism. Now that I am diagnosed I understand a lot about me and why I always felt like a alien and have difficulties functioning and don’t feel like a “adult”.
I am glad to find a forum where I can connect with people like me.
I love Pokémon, furbies, and tinkering with things. I like being creative and learning too.
It is nice to meet you all.

nice to meet u too

Ahoy-hoy.

Welcome to WP! I hope you like it here.

And get used to not feeling like an adult. I know I am an adult but I still feel like I did as a child...just with more experience...and stray aches and pains.

It is very difficult knowing I will probably go the rest of my life never “growing up” or being able to be completely independent.

Despite that I will try my best to adapt to the adult world and do what I can.

Who said you would never grow up? Both your mind and body will do that. All I can say is that I feel the same as I always have. I know that I used to be a child and now I am an adult but I feel the same. The dictionary tells me my status has changed even though there was no point in time where I felt the "I'm an ADULT" light come on. I've always just been me.

And I certainly am not saying you should never be completely independent. You want to do that and should make decisions and choices that help you do that. I was completely independent. But then I married. I am no longer completely independent, we are interdependent.

The world is big. Just think about what you are doing and make good decisions.

But I know of no rule that you have to feel any different when you get older...other than taller, more experienced and knowledgeable, and feeling more frequent needs for medical attention.

I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply you said any of that. I was just stating how I have personally felt over the years.

Welcome!

I know you were not talking about anyone in particular, certainly not me. It's just that you didn't sound that optimistic and I would like you to be optimistic. You can go far. Parts of the trip might not be fun but they are just something you go through to get someplace better.

The heck with growing up. Just keep moving toward "better"!

welcome, glad you are with us

Welcome to Wrong Planet.

You are someone like me. I am now 75 years old and if you look very deep inside me you will find a child. When I was around 20 years old, I grew a mustache and everyone just falsely assumed I was an adult. But the main point is that because I never grew up my knowledge kept increasing. Most people stop learning around that age and then just go on to work for many years, retire and grow old. But unlike others I do not age the same way. I just continue to learn. In a way I am very much like Peter Pan.

I am independent. I began working all types of jobs from my early teen years while I was going to school. So I do not think you are handcuffed to never becoming independent. It may not be that hard to do. Break yourself into two people - your daytime work, work, work person and your night time dreamer (you know, the one that likes to play video games). Be the best you can be in both worlds.

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

Nice to meet you!

Welcome to WP!

Welcome Calyrex.. nice to see you have had a safe landing after all that time, on Wrong Planet ...

Hi there Calyrex,

I'm glad you're learning about yourself! I'm new here, too. I'll share some ideas with hopes that they might help.

Part of my experience is that I treat everybody the same way regardless of their age or "social status", and interestingly, I treat myself the same way. I simply am who I am. People are very commonly surprised to hear I'm nearly 40, instead estimating me in my early 30s. Basically there's a lack of what's considered by most folks to be age-appropriate behavior. Yet I would argue that my behavior is exactly appropriate for me, because, I'm me! I'm not everyone else. And neither are you.

For your own sanity and self-respect, I would suggest you consider something that I myself have considered. Just because I don't act in all the ways that most people would expect me to act based on my age, I am still me, you are still you. It isn't me that's wrong, and it isn't you. Ultimately it's the expectations of others that turn out to be unhelpful here. We simply are who we are, even if it doesn't "fit the mold" of the more neurotypical world.

I hope you'll continue to show yourself compassion. I'm so glad to hear you've found this information about yourself in your early 20s. I struggled very badly all through my 20s and 30s, not realizing there was a very good reason for the struggles that I have. So I'm happy that you've found some insight so early in your adult life. Here's to you!