Like most things in life being aspie has it's own pros and cons. Growing up was the though, felt like a fish trying to climb a tree most days. I was a rather odd kid between speech impediments, think wefwidgewatow (refrigerator), not picking up on social cues, nervous ticks, the sometimes overwhelming stimuli like excessive sounds and lights, and my seemingly lack of filter between my brain and my mouth. On top of these I dealt with and still deal with are other mundane things; I keep as much of my skin covered at all times as possible, and always with natural fibers like cotton and wool. Textures bother me, I wont ever eat pears or popcorn; along those same lines I touch nearly everything I walk past as long I can do it without changing my direction. I get into highly structured routines that are extremely hard to break and are quite predictable to those who know me.

On the other hand though I'm quite smart, I have a great memory, I've learned to make my routines as healthy as possible. I use my ability to have a focal point on things that will actually help in my personal and professional life. In a professional setting I've learned to not say exactly the first thing to pop into my head, to take a few seconds and think through it first, or to put it in writing so that I can proof read it and make the changes needed. In my personal life I don't use my filter much, the few friendships that I maintain I actually get to be myself in. They know me for who and what I am, while drinking hilarity usually ensues as I don't even try to hold anything back. I make an ass of myself, tell jokes that no one gets without me giving the 15 different tangents my brain took to make it. I stop caring about reading social cues and just pretend like I've known everyone and were best friends, especially when it starts to get awkward.

If I could only give one piece of advice on dealing with being an aspie it would be this; Get out of your comfort zone! Not everyday, maybe not even every week, but always try to do things you're not used to doing. Go to that bar from time to time, go join a club or group, pick up a hobby that forces you to connect to other people and just be yourself, who knows maybe you will find some other fish trying to climb a tree.