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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DLJ1972" data-source="post: 18334" data-attributes="member: 8726">Hello againI just realised I said Hi to you on someone else's thread!I really relate to what you've said here, and you are not alone in your experience of feeling lost. I too am trying to navigate my diagnosis and I feel like I don't even know who I am anymore. My understanding of myself has been challenged greatly over the past year. What is the mask and what is me? It's very confusing. I was diagnosed with ADHD a year ago and that was easier to make sense of as it is very much behavioural and so I think I understand that quite a bit now. But I requested an ASD assessment earlier this year after completing training at work, and I couldn't believe how much I related to the training, especially in terms of how I was as a child. I felt shell shocked to be honest. I feel like the ASD diagnosis is harder to process as it's more about WHO I am. I can see how much I twisted myself and modelled myself in ways to be like other people, but its hard to know who I actually am. I have started stripping things back and thinking about what I LIKED to do as a child and that's helped me to give myself the opportunity to ignite a spark in me.  I feel like I am reconnecting with the child me and therefore the true me again. It's early days. I'm just giving myself the space to breathe so I can try and let myself be, so I can get to know myself again. I am now doing art again, yoga, kayaking and I've joined a choir and walking women's football team! (My hyper-activity and hyper-focus needs interests and activities haha) and whereas this time last year I had 4 part time jobs, I now only have 1 (working in a museum as I love history!). This is what I mean about stripping things back. I'm making choices that have my likes/loves in the forefront and this is helping me to reconnect with my true self. |Apologies for the long reply, I just wanted to share part of my journey with you in the hope that you may find it useful for your life. I have genuinely felt like I've been stumbling around lost in the dark for quite a while now and while I don't know what's next, I know I am beginning to make sense of things a bit more again. Kindest regards. DLJ</blockquote>

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