share the things I do to help me feel hopeful when I'm going through a difficult time. I find it especially difficult to reach out to friends or family, or to do much of anything, on the low days. So these are mostly low effort activities you can do by yourself if you don't have the energy to "people".
There is something very empowering about acknowledging that you have a choice. You can't control what happens in the world around you. What you can do is control how you respond. You can dictate how to deal with the situations you find yourself in.
The aim of Autistic Pride Day is to change the perception of autistic people so they are not seen as people requiring treatment, but as unique individuals, just like everyone else.
We are always so quick to remember every little thing we shouldn’t have done, things we should have said but didn’t. We lie awake and relive the cringeworthy moments, and the downright awful ones. But how often do you look back at your day and give yourself a pat on the back?
If everyone can recognise the signs, in themselves and others, we can save lives. If everyone understands that the picture perfect version of life we see in the media is a farce, we can save lives.
So here are just a few questions I wish I'd known to ask, and that I wish someone had given me the answers to when I was alone in the dark. Questions I have never had the courage to ask out loud.
I spent a long time thinking that I couldn’t talk about depression or anxiety. That I hadn’t suffered enough to have these conditions. That I must be weak to feel the way I do when so many people go through worse and come out better. Sometimes I still believe that.
I found out fairly recently about a condition called Aphantasia. According to the brief web search I did once I heard about it, it is characterized by an inability to voluntarily visualize mental imagery.
Memory is a strange concept to me. Science can tell us that our memories are malleable. Just look at eye witness testimony. There is a reason leading questions can be so dangerous in a courtroom or an investigation. It's like even your mind wants to please you by conjuring what you are looking for there.... Continue Reading →
