There is no doubt that living with autism can make life particularly challenging. However, there are ways that we can use autism to our advantage.
Men and women generally present quite differently when it comes to autism, but the things we struggle with are usually similar. We just tend to show them in different ways.
Embrace Your Differences
The most important thing in my opinion is learning to embrace your differences. By having self-acceptance and confidence in who you are, others will be confident in you too.
It is not easy to be confident when you grow up feeling different to those around you, but it can be done. Hopefully the things I talk about in this article help you take a step towards that.
Intense Interests
We can look at things from various perspectives. When it comes to somebody autistic, they may have an intense interest that is ‘unusual’ in the eyes of somebody neurotypical.
Try not to be embarrassed by those interests and look at it from a positive perspective. Being autistic can mean you take in and remember lots and lots of facts and statistics. Not everyone will be interested in this, and that’s okay. As long as you enjoy that thing, and you are doing whatever it is safely, that is what is important.
The people who take an interest in hearing about what you enjoy are the people you should think about spending your time with, rather than wasting energy on people who do not respect your interests. They don’t have to love what you love, but they need to respect that you love it.
It is these quirky interests that make you the awesome person that you are!
Good Memory
If you are an individual with high functioning autism, you might find that you have an amazing memory. This can be a great skill to have. Not only can it be helpful when it comes to remembering things you need, but it can also be nice to be able to look back on memories with high levels of detail.
Loyalty
One of our superpowers as an autistic individual is how loyal we are. Sometimes being loyal can be disappointing when we don’t receive that loyalty in return but having that trait ourselves is an amazing trait to have.
Try to focus on the people in your life who return your loyalty. This will cut out disappointments and leave you feeling content with the people you surround yourself with.
Routines
What’s not to love about a routine?! Autistic people tend to love following a routine and there’s nothing wrong with that. It can be challenging when we have to face something that is outside of our normal routine, but generally when we know what the plan is for the day, we can make it through and then be really proud that we did it.
Attention to Detail
Autism is linked with having a great attention to even the smallest of details. Those who are autistic often notice things that an average neurotypical person would not notice. This can be a great skill to have in both a personal capacity, but also for work.
Work to your Strengths
Making Autism your superpower is all about working to your strengths. Despite having to face a lot of challenges throughout life due to being on the autistic spectrum, if we choose to try and focus on those positive elements it can make life so much more fulfilling.
Autism and Mindfulness
I use mindfulness to help me cope with autism. When I am finding a situation challenging, such as being in a crowd, I acknowledge to myself (and sometimes those around me) that I’m uncomfortable. I then tell myself that it is just a moment and that it won’t last forever. Soon I will be out of that uncomfortable situation. Thinking in this way helps to reduce my anxiety when in challenging situations.
If you want to learn more about mindfulness, I have a free course available here.