I will add that not many people have really caught on, im pretty high functioning in the sense that no one knows I have no conscience or real empathy.

Only because I developed cognitive empathy right as kids were learning to reason. Kids learn instinctual empathy through natural development. But we learn cognitive empathy as we become adolescents, and by the time teens learned reason I was already among them.

I wish I was a sociopath but my need for acceptance is what holds me back from everything I REALLY want out of life. I manipulate people by hiding amongst them and gaining the benefits of being on people’s good side, but I could do so much better if I lost the need for acceptance. If I lost that, I could lose the fear of rejection, the fear of danger, the need for people to like me. I know inside that I don’t really need people to like me but I find myself stressing over it all the time regardless. I’m very insecure.