It was my pleasure! I can't stop thinking about your experiences at being terrible at placating men . . . boy, do I relate in so many ways!!!! Honestly now it feels like a super power :)
"It was discovering my autistic identity that has finally allowed me to find some peace in self-acceptance, where the only person I need to belong is myself." Cheering for this!
Ohhhhh I can relate to so much of this. Being outspoken/opinionated in school but also really smart and tolerated by teachers. Such a good girl but also rebellious. Men being intimidated by me. Not great at beauty/fashion and trying to figure out whether to care or rebel. Etc etc etc. Thank you so much for sharing!
Deeply appreciate you sharing Walsh’s real and personal perspective DL. I had just finished reading “The Tragedy of Heterosexuality” by Jane Ward this week and so the title absolutely caught my eye. At the early stages of this journey and coming from a different angle; I drank the koolaid so hard that I landed the husband and the perfect house and three kids and never questioned my sexuality until after a divorce, leaving Mormonism, and now late in my 30’s. It’s so supportive to hear other stories about coming home to your truth no matter what age you are. Thank you. 🙏🏼
Thank you, Aisling, for this essay. It’s so interesting to hear that navigating to understanding your sexual identity was more straightforward than coming to an understanding of your neurodivergence. That makes sense to me. (At 51 and undiagnosed something, I am finally deconstructing some of these things, and I feel like my many years of acting neurotypical and managing to succeed in the neurotypical world have created a shadowy matrix that I do not know how to get out of.)
Thanks for sharing Rachel, I hope with time, patience and compassion towards yourself, you are able to find your way out of the shadowy matrix and discover what works for you!
The last sentence about belonging with you being the belonging that matters made me smile deep and big. Settling into my neurodivergence and unmasking with the support of this community has resulted in a great sense of internal wellbeing and belonging for which I'm so grateful to everyone here!
Thanks DL for providing a home for my words, among very illustrious company!
It was my pleasure! I can't stop thinking about your experiences at being terrible at placating men . . . boy, do I relate in so many ways!!!! Honestly now it feels like a super power :)
Hahaha, I 'm retrospectively proud of how obstinate I was! ;)
"It was discovering my autistic identity that has finally allowed me to find some peace in self-acceptance, where the only person I need to belong is myself." Cheering for this!
Thank you for reading, so glad it resonated!
Ohhhhh I can relate to so much of this. Being outspoken/opinionated in school but also really smart and tolerated by teachers. Such a good girl but also rebellious. Men being intimidated by me. Not great at beauty/fashion and trying to figure out whether to care or rebel. Etc etc etc. Thank you so much for sharing!
I hope we can ALL embrace the being intimidating to men label!!! This is definitely a part of my story too :)
Agreed! :)
100% agree!
Deeply appreciate you sharing Walsh’s real and personal perspective DL. I had just finished reading “The Tragedy of Heterosexuality” by Jane Ward this week and so the title absolutely caught my eye. At the early stages of this journey and coming from a different angle; I drank the koolaid so hard that I landed the husband and the perfect house and three kids and never questioned my sexuality until after a divorce, leaving Mormonism, and now late in my 30’s. It’s so supportive to hear other stories about coming home to your truth no matter what age you are. Thank you. 🙏🏼
What an amazing journey Britta, thank you for sharing! I'm definitely going to check out Ward's book, sounds fascinating!
Thank you, Aisling, for this essay. It’s so interesting to hear that navigating to understanding your sexual identity was more straightforward than coming to an understanding of your neurodivergence. That makes sense to me. (At 51 and undiagnosed something, I am finally deconstructing some of these things, and I feel like my many years of acting neurotypical and managing to succeed in the neurotypical world have created a shadowy matrix that I do not know how to get out of.)
Thanks for sharing Rachel, I hope with time, patience and compassion towards yourself, you are able to find your way out of the shadowy matrix and discover what works for you!
The last sentence about belonging with you being the belonging that matters made me smile deep and big. Settling into my neurodivergence and unmasking with the support of this community has resulted in a great sense of internal wellbeing and belonging for which I'm so grateful to everyone here!
It’s so amazing when this finally happens!
I resonated with your story in many ways. Thank you for sharing. <3