this post was submitted on 19 Dec 2023
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So recently I feel like I don't fit in anymore, like the world is turning around in shame to me. Help?

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[–] [email protected] 34 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Im sorry you are feeling bad right now. Life ebbs & flows, things will lighten up & get easier on you, try to be patient.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

who the f**k downvoted is pathetic

[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago (1 children)

If it helps, I see at least one downvote on pretty much any post with more than 10 upvotes, regardless of the content. So don’t take it personally. And I hope your day gets better. Some days are just shitty, and that’s ok. Just do what needs to be done on those days, try to be nice to people, and look forward to the better days that will definitely come.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

I also checked marked you

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

You should really stop worrying about what others do and think. You can't and will never control that. It'll stress you out more then you know. Just enjoy the good things around you.

Goes for this comment, and you original post.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

It's hard to do that in the modern era

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

It's only as hard as you make it and it's no harder then 20 years ago. You have no reason to feel a need to be justified by people you don't know or will ever have any personal gain from.

It sounds selfish, but you're on this rock for you. Not for them. Learn to appreciate you for what you do, then worry about others if time permits.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago
[–] [email protected] 27 points 9 months ago (1 children)

If it makes you feel any better, plenty of people who don't have autism also feel like losers.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 12 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Yep. Your feelings are authentic and meaningful, but are not unique.

Edit not sure why I was downvoted, OP asked for clarification and I provided it. Many people from all walks of live feel like a loser. They matter.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago
[–] [email protected] 16 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Most people have to try really hard it fit into the world, even those who don't have Autism. What you see especially online is their highlight reel, what they don't show you is all the stress and effort it takes them to fit in and keep up with everybody else.

The good part is that once you're aware of the above it's easier to just do your own thing instead of trying to fit whatever you perceive as supposedly normal.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago

Yeah, thank you

[–] [email protected] 13 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Welcome to the world. Everyone turns away from those who are different. But you shouldn't determine your worth as a person based on what the world does, but on what YOU do. More importantly, you are a person worthy of love and respect. Everyone is since they are born.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

;) Thank you

[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 months ago (1 children)

A big thing that helped me is knowing that, even if nobody knows what it is like to be me, specifically, everything I have ever felt and experienced has been felt and experienced by at least one other person, somewhere. Feelings are far more universal that we realize as we are feeling them, and no matter how alone you feel, there are other people with that same feeling.

This isn't meant to minimize your experience. In fact, it enhanced mine. By realizing that a lot of people feel the same feelings as me, it helped me communicate better. Even if I have a hard time identifying the name of a feeling, describing it in general terms opens a new point of communication that can bridge a lot of gaps.

For example, I have been able to go to a friend group and explain that, while jokes are okay, a particular joke made me feel unwelcome, and explained why. The fact that I felt excluded stopped being seen as a barrier, and instead it was the thing that started the conversation about the joke, why it was made, and it helped both parties learn some context for next time.

Even if it doesn't work in your current situation, it can help in similar, future situations by helping you avoid this feelings trap in the future. It has certainly helped me a lot.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

It's hard to be myself like UglyDolls says too

[–] [email protected] 8 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

I've been feeling in a very similar way recently...

I don't know if it helps somehow, but you're not alone with that.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago
[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago (2 children)

People mostly suck, life is much nicer without involving them.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago
[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

I like people, and I get loveable about them, buuut I agree 😆

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

This was me and autistic people before I found out I was autistic

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Try to shape your world and make it one that fits you. Curate it so that the things which make you uncomfortable are no longer around.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Been there, done that, it didn't work

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

What sort of things make things awful, and what make it better?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 9 months ago

This may be unrelated to you, and only a me thing, but I had a couple of people in my lifetime that were great to me usually but would also tell me sometimes that other people were talking about x or y, or that I did something wrong and everyone was just being polite in a particular situation. So I began to rely on those people's impressions of other people's impressions of me to dictate my behavior. It took me years after those people were out of my life (it is exhausting to be someone's conduit to humanity), where I was hyper-vigilant in every social situation wondering who is judging me, as those people had assured me they were but I could never tell, that it really just wasn't happening.... This lifetime insanity of thinking everyone wanted to shame me had to do more with the insecurity of a few people. And yea sometimes people did overtly point things out that they just thought was weird or "wrong" and that factored into the shame as well, but these people are also isolated voices and not part of a chorus, and I think the well-meaning ones did more damage. Just shooting my own stuff into the dark in case it sticks.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

I never really felt like I fit in, not even in my own family. I grew up with only one side, so I think I ended up in the wrong one. No matter where I'm at, I always feel like I'm different or just visiting.

It sucks that you feel that the world is turning around to shame you. I think that's probably a common autistic experience, so I hope you know you're not alone in that experience and feeling.

When I feel like that, I tend to isolate for a little. Then, once I feel better or the need, I start looking for social circles in which I would feel comfortable being myself. Maybe you can think of some places that would work for you? If you're looking to have a social outlet, our chat room is pretty active most of the time. Come on in, say hi, and make an infodump!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

This carries its own burden, but nobody is paying attention to you.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

This is known as spotlight effect.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

Get a furball! 🐈❤️

And don't feel bad for "not fitting in" all the time.

Nobody can be who they want all the time!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (2 children)

I was diagnosed with Asperger's when I was little and had to carry the knowledge that I was "different" with me all throughout my school years. Peers in my circles would constantly mock autism despite my protest, and I often got ridiculed for it.

Nowadays, having autism is considered trendy by zoomers with basic ass white bitches pretending to be aspy on TikTok and shit for clout. Hell, I matched with some chick on Tinder and apparently it was because I had something Autism-related in one of my pics and they claim to have autism (but were never diagnosed).

Society is beginning to normalize autism, which I wouldn't exactly call a good thing, but if anything I hope that can give you the confidence to live your life a little more free from the idea that you don't fit in. You and I are literally the new trendy thing for some freaking reason. Just be you and tell those who judge you for it to eat a bag of dicks because hiding it won't do you any good, take my word on that.

edit: also if it helps put your mind at ease, the only people who will be able to identify your autism without you self reporting on it are behavior analysts and those also afflicted with autism or have lived with an afflicted individual for long enough. Normies can hardly even identify a Kanner's when they are having a meltdown, which is why they stare like clueless bastards

[–] [email protected] 6 points 9 months ago

That trend doesn't extend to being supportive of actual ND behaviours though. Like if you act weird around people they will still stigmatize your weird behaviour. They only want the word "Autism", not the symptoms of it

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

It's still a tend ugh

I hoped we had moved past the collecting conditions like they are pokemon cards trend.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

It's definitely a horrible feeling. Actually feeling this a lot right now myself. But for me it's not shame rather it's more I just don't fit in anywhere and can't relate to anyone.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

I sometimes feel if I'm in the inception movie. Towards the end where they enter the guys mind and his brain starts to detect the intruders and starts to attack them

So yeah I can relate. Being weird and not fitting in isn't wrong. Own it and fck other people. Also, ask your doctor for propranolol (beta blockers) if you have social anxiety. It helps me. It might help you.