this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2026
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Autism
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Same. I believe I've suffered from autistic burnout for roughly the last year. I was pushing myself to be social, for my wife and other reasons. That led to me finally getting diagnosed.
Almost all of the autism resources I have found say something along the lines of "Autistic people actually love to be social with other people! It's just difficult because kfnthr double-empathy problem. Try making friends with autistic people". The psychologist, therapist, books, articles, everything. It all felt... Weird.
Then I talked to my older sister who was diagnosed almost a decade ago. She realized a while ago that socialization is just bad for her, so she stopped doing it and has been much happier and healthier ever since.
If you meet one autistic person, you’ve met one autistic person. We’re each a unique bundle of overlapping quirks, but no two of us are the same.
I imagine that instruction (to make friends with autistic people) is made in good faith, but you’re right - some of us are just happier alone.
Honestly, I think that if we weren’t living in a world falling to shit, if I didn’t feel like I’m just scraping by, if I didn’t have to work full time to survive, I’d probably feel more energy for socialization. But with things as they are, I’m exhausted, and any further socialization is another drain on my already-depleted energy stores. I’m just not built for this world the way it is.