Genuine Friendships- A Key To Life

Sometimes I wonder and some other people wonder how autistic people can have as many friends as I do. It's because I'm nice and share things that other people should hear and I am, for the most part, a genuine human doing. I don't always have the best words to say or the most kind, but usually I do and when I don't there is a bit of humor and sarcasm to them and it's usually with good friends when that happens. Good friends are truly hard to come by unless you are social and genuine friends even harder. Friends that will always back you up no matter what and help you out in any way that they can. Friends that will be your friend no matter what the past or present with them is and what they have in store for the future. Friends that are truly gold and truly great role models. Friends that are genuine and have the best interest and help and understand you. Those genuine friends are heroes and they are truly a key to life and friendships that are to be treasured. I'm glad that I have plenty of friends in my life despite my autism, but it hasn't always been that way. I used to be shy as a wilting dandelion and as cautious as a tip-toeing individual on ice. I was afraid of being burned. Burned by the church, burned by friends, and burned by family. This is still happening at times, but I am able to put it as a personal problem for the individual, rather than a system problem. The majority of my friends are genuine enough not to be like this. I am lucky to have enough close friends to have an army of supporters and enough genuine close friends to have my back in any situation and show love for me, in fact, I'm glad that I'm who I am. Autistic or not, I have evolved in a great comeback sort of way and have touched many lives. Many genuine friends have been made and many more will be made over the course of my lifetime. Sure, I have been burned in friendships and relationships, but there is a resillent, baggage-filled, formerly embattled individual underneath all of this burning that only comes out to the individuals who are closest. I can tell a select few people anything, and I would want it that way- but I do have plenty of genuine friends I can tell a lot to. And that makes my heart happy. Stay tuned for a blog to come either next week or after my first test: self-advocating for who I am and why this is important.

Selfulness Perfectionistic Ideals, Autism, For Me It Computes

I am a selfless individual. I'm a perfectionist. And I have autism. For me, it computes. I get frazzled when I don't do well, regardless of what it is, I am fiercely competitive with sports, and I feel like if I don't get a B or an A, regardless of the subject, I start to take things personally and ask if I'm going to pass the class. Also, there is the fact that I have intensely high expectations of not only myself but others, and that sometimes gets in the way of the extensive expressions of my niceness and my productivity. I'm one of the most intense, most immense nice guys you'll meet, but I don't let that get in the way of meeting my goals. I want to continue to strengthen my life towards a perfect resolution, however, as an extroverted former people-pleasure that doesn't want to get pushed around and needs to practice boundaries, there are certain things I can and cannot do to help with people. And there are pieces of realization along with that. For whatever reason, life is complicated, and people are complicated, but I have to realize that I can't please everybody and I have to be myself and be true to myself while showing a sense of selffulness and living in the now and helping out people in ways that are timeless truths. I feel a sense of justice that pangs sometimes deliberately in my heart and continues to roar out like a lion and live, laugh, and love greater than almost any lamb I know. the sense of peace is great, but also the sense of self and the sense of calming in my life when I'm able to do things well. And that's life's greatest peacefulness is being your true self and selfful along with it. Stay tuned for the next week's installment: genuine friendships and why everyone needs them.

Blessings Of Autism

Autism is a gift. There are seven reasons why it's a gift and they all correlate together exceptionally well. I feel compassion for all humankind that have been hurt and that have been oppressed, but not only that, I feel compassion for the disenfranchised and people in general. I feel this way because I have autism and I know what it feels like to be hurt but I also know what it feels like to be loved. I also feel like it's a gift because people cheer harder for me to do well in sports when I'm the only person with differing abilities in the group. Even if I finish dead last or finish somewhere in the middle, every piece of just being out there and being active is a victory. I feel like it's a gift because I can touch people's lives in ways that no one else can. For example, I have the effect of touching all sorts of individual's lives around town and being lovable towards them that has them thinking of autism and differing abilities in an extremely different way. I can show not only compassion but being a model citizen in ways that no one else can and share ideas to bounce off that come hard for others. Another reason is being uninhibited in nature can create interesting conversations and can create an inner peace for trying new things and sharing lives in ways that seem kind of outside of the norm. I feel like one of the reasons why I'm so beloved at Christian activities is because I have an exuberance that is so free-spirited that it doesn't come naturally to most people. And then there is the fact that I can have power to change the world which can become from being a leader and continue to strive to be an excellent person with great boundaries. I can change the world just by being me and by sharing my testimony, whether faith-based or not, as to how autism is using me to empower others. And it helps me with school, oddly enough. Autism helps me hyper-focus to the point where I'm doing almost as well as most of my family members in college and to the point where when I'm studying, as long as I'm in a quiet enough place, I'm in the proverbial zone and can ration out hours of studying on end. That is yet another reason why autism is a gift. And the final reason and the most obvious one, you never know whose life is going to be affected by it, and thus as somebody who has the capability to live a strong, independent, honorable, model citizen life, there is a lot to be said for autism not ruining my outlook and not using it as an excuse, because that is honorable and, for many people, inspirational. Having the best outlook on autism and how it is a blessing, not a curse or something to have as a crutch helps people out. It helps parents out, it helps siblings out, and it helps teachers out. A whole world is waiting to get my abilities untapped. Why not have autism as one of the best ways to do that? Because, after all, autism is a gift. Stay tuned for the next item from the AutBott: what it means to be selfful as an perfectionist individual with autism.