14 Comments
User's avatar
Gordon's avatar

Really related to this one- especially the bit about people loving you when they’ve never touched you. I’ve come to realize how shallow my family is compared to others. We all just sit on our phones or watch TV when we’re not discussing everyday life bs.

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Ashleen Walters's avatar

Wow, this felt like you reached into my mind and put my thoughts into words.

The constant masking is exhausting. Good luck discovering how to be authentically you 💖

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Saru | सरु's avatar

🥹

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annie in your pocket's avatar

Woof, I just spent an entire weekend questioning if I'm autistic, so this! piece! feels! divine!

Thank you for writing it and for capturing the loneliness of being unable to know oneself when you constantly feel the need to perform the role of a normal person.

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Nat's avatar

Omg that’s so sweet thank you!

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Sarah's avatar

i love this. i've been reading some of ur writings for a while. and i want to say it really speaks to me. it's not written for reach, but for release. it's raw and personal. and im a fan.

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Nat's avatar

Thank you so much! I truly appreciate that

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dizzykodak's avatar

I resonate with this so much

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Nat's avatar

aww I hope to read your work soon!

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shan🐇's avatar

wow i love this, so many of my posts touched on this too, it’s like im never completely certain about what i actually want. as long as someone else wants something, im happy to be their accomplice. i felt this so deeply

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Nat's avatar

I checked some of your posts out and they're honestly pretty great, I hope to read more soon :)

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My psychosis story's avatar

I was a perfectionist about how I was perceived for the longest time.. it didn't help that my mum used to critique everything I did growing up too. But at some point it completely broke me and I quite literally went insane- surprisingly that's the best thing that could have happened to me in terms of being unembarassed by who I am today. Because I was forced to break my tight facade and urge to shrink myself for other people. I can see now that none of the moulding myself mattered to anyone, because when I stopped beyond my control, people probably were a bit weirded out for a little while but now nobody even remembers- so what the hell, I just say things without giving myself a chance to process if I should or not a lot of the time now, and it's lead to connecting with more people. My sister's neurodivergent and unmasking recently and she says it's been the best time ever for her social life- so you know, you can do it, I'm sure!

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Nat's avatar

thank you for sharing your experience, I'm learning to reduce my need for perfection when it comes to being perceived and honestly it's been hard but refreshing at the same time.

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My psychosis story's avatar

No problem. And any progress for what you're doing is meaningful, good luck in continuing to be less concerned about how others perceive you :)

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