distance, emotion, pleasure, meaning

I feel the same way and have felt that way my entire life. I'm 25 now and the thing that helped me was actually dedicating myself to spiritual "detachment" like you would find in Buddhism. By cultivating a positive form of detachment from others you do save yourself from suffering but you have to learn the constructive and de-constructive ways of detaching so you can feel better about your separations instead of like you're doing something wrong.

Because society is largely built on superficial relationships and behaviour the observations you've made about people are probably accurate. The only way to cure this feeling is to just understand that in some way everyone is struggling and their struggles manifest differently. Sometimes when people are struggling they're complete dicks and sometimes it's best to keep those dicks away from you- especially if you are struggling.

There's nothing wrong with letting go of people who hurt you or no longer serve you but there's also something to be said for mercy and forgiveness. In some situations you may find it would be better to forgive a friend or family member than just leave them. Something aspies frequently struggle with is their failure to see their contribution to a problem, and they also struggle with empathy. This means you probably don't really see it from someone else's perspective (how could you? they're NT and you're ND most likely) very easily so you need to pay close attention to what's really happening inside you during a conflict. Try to step back from the situation (think about it later) before you make rash decisions or say hurtful things. Just tell people you need a minute or you're having a hard time dealing with this right now. I found that just straight up telling people how they made me feel worked a lot better than just getting into a fight with them.

I grew up having a lot of angst and anger and depression especially around my family. Many times I've excommunicated family members for their behaviour but I realized that doing that destroyed me. I'd replay the fights over in my head trying to figure out what went wrong in my life. Only when I was able to let go and forgive my family was I free of that internal dichotomy. Forgiveness doesn't mean you have to be best friends with someone, it just means that you're letting yourself move on from the situation. You can feel very fulfilled in this life with or without people- but you don't need to give up on everyone all together. I know I'm one to talk because I live in near isolation but isolation brings you closer to yourself. If you can get to know your own limitations better you can learn to reverse all of the subconscious programming that suffering trauma has given you. Mutism and numbness are not your natural states- they are extreme reactions to to the prolonged suffering of an extremely sensitive soul. Reconnect to your inner self and bring your love back into your heart that you had when you were a child. If you can let yourself feel love again you will be happy no matter where you are and what situation you are in. I feel like I could be living under a bridge and I'd still be happy because I found my heart.

If you ever need someone to talk to I'm around. Good luck out there.

/r/aspergers Thread