It's not easy. I'm certainly not better, but I'm better than I was. I'm sure you are and will be better too; but that means putting less pressure on yourself, and accepting that the fear of being the wrong kind of person is something we put on ourselves. You're always the right kind of person, Boba!

All I can say is it does get easier, and it is not your fault that you need to cope with yourself and everything that's happened before you find it easy to give energy to other things. Working through everything and giving yourself time to feel now means it will be better in the future.

the survival mode that can trigger at the smallest things without you even noticing, people and places who weren't even part of it setting you off just because they were there too; the feeling like you're not involved enough in your own life because you're borne down by the weight of everything.

As someone who is a member of the Been Through It Club and Late Diagnosed Society I really get this. Realising you're autistic and feeling less capable than ever as you start working through it all and the trauma and anxiety you didn't realise you were using to mask starts falling away;