Autism Mind Map

I'm in the process of creating a mind map for my autistic traits, so it's more streamlined and easier to understand than the list currently on the blog which is kind of jumbled up. I'll add the mind map (or at least a link to it) to the blog once I feel satisfied with it. 

Am I a Certified Birdwatcher Now?

One of my college friends convinced me to get the Merlin bird identifier app this past weekend and I have been obsessed with it ever since. It really has given me a newfound appreciation for all the birds that live around me, not that I hadn't been enamored with them previously, but now I can identify them by their songs and calls and it's added a bit more joy into my life. 

New Page for Autism Traits List

Hey y’all, I’m going to add a new page to the blog where I can keep an updated list on all the traits I believe are autistic traits I possess. Hope it’s helpful to anyone going through that discovery process. 

The Best Fleet Foxes Song?

Despite being one of Fleet Foxes' biggest fans and loving all of their music, I always find myself coming back to the song "English House." Idk, it just has a vibe to it that their newer music doesn't have. 

English House

Phenomenal Drum Cover of Dua Lipa's "Houdini"

Adrian Trepka is an amazing technical drummer, and probably in my top five best drummers on YouTube. He doesn't have a large following but definitely deserves one.

Adrian's Drum Cover

Introductory Post on Autism

Two years ago, I had a conversation with my roommate about "HSP" or Highly Sensitive People. I received one of the highest scores possible after taking the official HSP online quiz. This led my roommate to ask if I had ever considered that I might be autistic. I admitted that I had, but the idea of having autism made me want to retreat into a corner. I had grown up believing that autism meant being dysfunctional, unable to speak, communicate, or succeed in life. Many of these beliefs stemmed from being in elementary school with an autistic boy who exhibited these traits.

As I delved into autism research, I started noticing more and more things that eerily reminded me of myself. I began to have an identity crisis as thoughts of "my whole life is a lie" started to creep in. Furthermore, I realized that everyone in my life, including myself, had a deeply distorted understanding of what autism truly was. Upon further investigation, I discovered that autism in women is under-researched, and girls with autism often go unnoticed. This was news to me. As I connected the dots, I finally came to the realization at the end of my second year at college that I was likely autistic and had no idea, as my family had always dismissed my traits as either "things everyone does" or "things I do because I'm gifted," without knowing that autism is genetic and a large percentage of autistic children are also gifted.

I hope that by sharing my experiences, I can help anyone who is going through the same identity crisis I faced two years ago. I plan to continue posting more about autism in the future.

Unpacking

Started cleaning up a corner of my bedroom this afternoon to accommodate all the new trinkets (AKA, books) I brought home from college. Quite the mental chore. I really wish books weren't the dust magnets they are, and that I wouldn't keep forgetting to wear a mask when dealing with dust...

Slept in Too Late

Set my alarm for 10:15 this morning so I could sleep in but not too late. Cut the alarm off at 10:15, and somehow fell back asleep for 3 hours. Wasted half the day away :(

Better Late Than Never

Finally getting around to adding stuff to this blog. It's getting pretty late though, so I think I'll have to come back to it tomorrow.