Last post of the year

I know I just posted a couple days ago, but how is it this year really flew by, let alone having a new year starting in just over 24 hours?

It literally feels like summer was like 2 months ago and it’s already been 6. And now we get January by Thursday? Does this feel like a dream to anyone else? Just me?

Well, considering the whole new year’s resolutions thing is going to be going heavy soon, I may as well say I most likely won’t do them. Every time I’ve tried in the past it just doesn’t go well. Plus, why start stuff in the new year when you can do it any time of the year? No time like now to start a new habit!

Or to build on older ones that you’ve had in place. Anything that works for you!

Speaking of new habits, I recently got a few devotional books as a gift and so far started one. They are 4 weeks long, 5 days each, and have questions at the end of each day and each week. Each one is a different topic and the one I started is about anxiety.

I’m actually really glad I started that one first as it’s been so helpful putting my brain in a different mindset in a way that’s been very helpful for me. I’m very much an interactive visual learner and having something like this is so helpful rather than spending hours searching for verses or mindlessly listening to stuff if you’re not paying attention.

Even though I am familiar with the Bible, I definitely feel like these devotional books help people who are life long church goers and beginners alike.

And it will be nice to look back on them and redo the questions in a few months or so and see how things have changed.

As the years winds down to 2026

I’ve been so bad about writing this year compared to last year. But, needless to say, I’ve been having some interesting/decent months so far to end the year.

At the beginning of this school year, my department had quite a few changes. For those who don’t know and are new to my posts, I work as a 2nd shift custodian at a school. We had a person retire, three people switched to a different part of the department, and one switched a new position in the same building as me.

Which means, five new people were hired from August until November. That’s quite an adjustment for a short amount of time!

Thankfully things have been good with the transition and nothing too crazy has been out of the ordinary with this.

It’s definitely been something that would normally trigger mad anxiety but I’ve been fortunate that’s not been the case with this.

As we went into the Christmas season, I felt the need to take some time off because who can say no to a recharge over the holidays?

It’s given me a chance to chill out and not feel rushed while simultaneously allowing me to have moments to do things I don’t have as much time to enjoy as I normally would. That has been a nice change lately.

I do hope all of you have had a good Christmas and I hope the rest of this year treats you well.

August is almost over

Can you believe that summer has flown by and kids are already starting school? It seems like school just ended! Granted I work in one so it’s a little different for me since I don’t have kids.

To start my month, I had a hockey tournament at the beginning of the month that was separate from what I do with my team. Some of my teammates played but we didn’t play with each other this year.

Which, in some ways I’m glad I didn’t, as it gave me a chance to meet other people outside of them.

And since we are on that topic, the team I was placed on was amazing. Even though we didn’t win any games, I know for a fact the more important part that tournament for me was playing with people who helped me not just feel comfortable, but help me step out of my comfort zone. They knew I was what we call an inclusive player, meaning I’m a player who comes from a special needs hockey team.

The downfall is, unless you know I’m disabled in some way, I don’t play like one and that makes it hard to know I am. Thankfully, the people who run this tournament know and had my back in each game I played, making sure the other team knew I had a disability.

The big upside was each game I played I knew someone on the ice and that made each game even better for me.

The best takeaway for me with this tournament, wasn’t the fact that I played. It was the fact that good people still exist and are willing to help bring people together to have fun. Even if it means helping someone step out of their comfort zone a little.

And that was what happened that weekend. That is what makes a difference in someone’s life is making them feel seen, and I sure felt seen that weekend. More than I ever have outside of my hockey team.

Even though the rest of August has been semi boring, the one thing that I will always hold onto is how I was seen beyond just being a body. Beyond just another person who you walk by.

I was someone that mattered to strangers for a weekend, someone who wasn’t seen as “just an autistic person.” And that was what made a big difference.

It took a while to figure out how to find the words to write this and after reliving that weekend recently, this was the best I could come up with.

It may not be the best writing, but it’s something as an autistic person that matters. The fact that I was seen as someone and not a burden is all autistic people ask for. Well, at least for me it is.

I think that’s the thing people forget is that people with any sort of disability are still human. We may have issues with communication, physical limitations, need stuff done for us regularly, or whatever other issues we have, but that doesn’t mean we are any less human and in need of acceptance like everyone else.

This year

Can any one else believe it’s already just over the half way point of the year?

I could have sworn this year just started and now we are into the almost halfway point of July!!

To say this year has been uneventful for me is an understatement to say the least. My hockey team had a tournament last month and we went 4-0 and won the division we were in! That is a far cry from a team that placed third the first year we participated.

A few months before that, I had an end of season championship game that I won a second year in a row.

Then in between I saw my favorite band live for my seventh time. Yes, I know I have a problem but they are so good live it’s hard to pass them up when they come around!!

Now I get to look forward to another hockey tournament in a couple weeks! I’m always looking forward to this one as it’s in my area and I get to see a lot of familiar faces here.

Then, October can never come soon enough, as that’s when I start my hockey season.

Like I said, it’s been an understatement of an eventful year! And this has all been since March so let’s hope the positive flow can keep going and more good things will happen.

On another note, my autism still hasn’t had many issues with sensory input. That’s always a win for me.

Thankfully things have worked itself out on the autism side and hopefully it can stay like that for a while longer. It’s definitely nice not getting terribly overwhelmed from external sources, like hearing or bright lights.

Maybe this is the start of good things to come in the future.

Getting back into things

Lately, and by lately I mean the last couple years, it’s been harder and harder for me to remember to find the time to make a blog. Not because I can’t, but more remembering to write, let alone come up with something to talk about.

Well, I now have something I can definitely talk about that I’m looking forward too.

Next weekend, I am getting to take a wonderful three day weekend trip to Chicago for a hockey tournament. I’m honestly super excited, not just to play hockey, but to actually get away from where I live for a few days and forget about reality for a while.

Just a few days away from life is enough of a reality break anyway, but for me to add in a hockey tournament, that’s a win-win in my book!

But my brain is definitely wired for it so I can’t really make a huge deal out of it.

Either way, this is the first of two tournaments I’m doing this summer and I’ve been looking forward to this day since the end of my season back in March! Talk about a long three months of waiting!!

Thankfully though, the Shinedown concert in April helped me look forward to something else for a bit. That was a big help for my hockey obsessed brain!

So far, outside of this tournament, my start of summer has been interesting. I’m not quite sure I can fit it into this post but let’s just say having a break from things next week will make up for how things have been the last couple weeks.

Hopefully you all are having a decent summer so far. I know the last few weekends have been wonderful to be able to get outside and enjoy most of the day. I hope you all have been able to enjoy some time outside as well!

I originally started writing this a couple weeks ago but unfortunately I was having issues uploading videos to the app and that stalled me.

But anyway, now that I have the time to finally do this, I will make this happen with or without videos.

A month ago, I went to see Shinedown for what was my seventh time.

Yeah I know I have a problem, but they are my favorite band and they put on a show like no other. I can’t help myself.

Overall, Shinedown was AMAZING! I can’t complain at all about their set, aside from the singer having his jacket catch on fire from stepping too close to flames and becoming encapsulated by them. Thankfully his jacket was the only thing that was damaged!

Other than that hiccup, the show itself was really something else. I can’t pick one moment that was better than another. The songs they put together were phenomenal. The way it was organized was great. The pyro was on another level. I could go on.

The band that opened for them I was very much looking forward to and they were really good! If you’re into metal core, go check out Beartooth!

The only complaint I had with them was they had their bass up so high it caused me some discomfort during their set and I wish I could have up and walked away for a bit. It was definitely triggering my autism and kind of made it hard for me to enjoy despite how great they were.

Other than that, I was very impressed with their energy and they set up Shinedown perfectly! I was happy they were on tour with them.

I apologize this took so long to write. It took me over two weeks to come off of the high from the concert. That’s an insane record for me! Usually it’s about a week depending on the artist.

And like I stated at the beginning, having the hiccups with trying to upload videos wasn’t going my way.

But I finally made this happen and thank you for being patient. I’ve been getting horrible about remembering to write anymore.

Life’s greatest joy

Well to start this off, I’ve been looking forward to April 28th since back in January. Why, might you ask?

Well, back in January, my favorite band, Shinedown, not only released two new singles for a new album coming out this year, they also released a new tour with a stop in my hometown.

Now, normally I don’t get too hyped up months before the concert and I usually tend to forget until the date gets closer. But for some reason, I’ve been hyped up for the last four months that my brain has been on the verge of explosion from the excitement.

To those who aren’t familiar with Shinedown, they are an alternative rock band. Some of their songs are a bit harder than others but the best way I can describe them to those who aren’t familiar is they are kind of a cross between Nirvana and the Foo Fighters, with a little more edge than Nirvana.

They are a band that I’ve seen six times already, yes you read that right, and this next concert makes seven since 2016.

Do I have a problem? Yes. Is it getting me in trouble? No. Will I stop with my obsession? Never.

Now you may be asking why I’ve been so pumped up this time around? Honestly, even I can’t answer that. There’s just something different about this time that I can’t exactly explain but I’m super pumped for. I could literally go on for hours talking about this, showing you clips of the two concerts they’ve already done, anything at this point.

Shinedown is just a major special interest and happy place for me that it’s hard to not be excited. I’m more excited for this time than I was the first. It’s so crazy to know I can see this band as much as I have and it feels like the first time all over again, but they get better each time.

I can’t wait to finally go and be able to hopefully write about it for you all later once I’ve processed everything!

Autism awareness (a day late)

Normally I try to write this on autism awareness day but this year, I couldn’t find the words that I haven’t already said in years past.

How awareness is overdone but acceptance needs to be the focus.

How even though people see us as human, once they hear autism they run.

How people know the word, but don’t understand what it actually is, treating it as an issue not meant to be understood.

In all fairness, yes it can be complicated but once you actively make an effort to understand, it’s the easiest thing to handle.

It’s just a matter of getting over the lack of understanding.

But, I can preach this all I want. It can only work if society can be willing to help.

Sadly, I’ve noticed this all too well. Thankfully most people see me as me and not as autism, but the few bad apples make it hard to understand if it’s truly all of society that’s the problem.

Hopefully one day that can change, but until then it’s an unsatisfying effort of figuring out a world that’s not set up for my comfort.

How time flies

Honestly, I really can’t believe that it’s already 3 months into 2025. Like how did that happen? It doesn’t seem like time has gone that fast, yet my hockey season is basically over already. Six months sure does go by fast!!

On a different note, things haven’t really changed a whole lot since my last post. Things are still stable, nothing big outside of hockey coming to an end has happened, yet time seems to be speeding up like crazy this year. I hope this isn’t going to be the case this summer!

I really don’t feel like I have too much to say in this post. I’m kind of at a weird standstill with things. I was hoping when I started this post it would be more eventful but unfortunately that isn’t the case this time. Sorry about that!

I hope you all are having a more eventful time than what I’ve written. I feel like this is one of my more boring posts, sadly. Hopefully my next post is more eventful in some way.

2025

Normally I write one of these in the first few days of a new year, but life happens and I’ve been horrible about coming up with things to talk about. Writer’s block is legit!

A few things have happened over the last month that have been quite entertaining for me lately. For Christmas, my sister had gotten me a book, that I absolutely loved called The September House by Carissa Orlando. I highly recommend it. It is mild horror but doesn’t go too overboard on scenes. It’s definitely not Stephan King level.

Well, with that book, it got me started on picking reading back up and have started reading books I’ve had for years and never touched. So I can’t complain about that!

Work has been quite an experience lately. Some days we are able to have fun and work. Other days, like recently, I’ve gotten a few days off because cold weather is a thing where I live. At least colder than what is normal.

I mean who can complain about a couple paid days off? I sure won’t, especially since I wasn’t able to have any weather related time off at my last job. One of the many perks of working for a school.

Hockey season is just over half way done for me. I know it’s hard to think it will be ending soon but it’s a reality I have to face soon. As far as hockey goes, I’ve definitely been labeled the trouble maker of the team. I definitely don’t start any of it, I just help it a long a little more!

Outside of that, not much has changed in the last couple months but the fact that we are already almost done with the first month of 2025 is crazy!

This month seems to be flying by too fast!

So long 2024, hello 2025

Yes, the time has come to start thinking of ways on how to make the new year better. I can hardly believe that we are less than a month away from 2025 already.

On that note though, I think it’s safe to say 2024 has tested people on a level that I don’t think anyone has ever expected.

I know it’s definitely affected me and how I perceive coworkers. Especially in the last few months. But thankfully one of those coworkers was taken care of by their own wrong doing. I can’t go into detail but it was definitely not a great situation for that person.

Thankfully, things have straightened themselves out for everyone after that situation and I am no longer feeling on edge for someone else’s attitude.

On a side note, I finally had my first work related meltdown about 4 weeks ago. After 3 years, it was bound to happen. I was unfortunately triggered by an unusually loud break room and had to leave to avoid having a severe reaction in front of others.

I’m lucky I was able to up and leave before it happened. But anyone who knows someone with autism, you know meltdowns can be very nasty and hard to deal with if you aren’t familiar with them.

Thankfully that was the only time I can say I had a meltdown at work, which is a far cry from my last job where it was at least 2-4 a month.

I’ll take a win of that nature!

Hopefully going forward things will straighten out for people on many levels and things will get better all around.

How fast this year has gone

Can you believe that 2024 is almost done? I swear it feels like it just started and here we are at the end of October. It’s crazy to think that we have 2 full months left before 2025.

As for me, it’s been a crazy start to the fall. I’ve already started my hockey season. Three practices in already and it’s already going by fast. Played in a charity game Saturday and went to a hockey game that night. Talk about a long day. But it was a fun-filled day of events so I can’t complain.

It’s crazy to think how fast seasons go when I’m playing them but they just seem to take forever to get here. Anyone in a hockey family understands that. But the memories are worth it.

On another note, I’ve still been getting better at managing my autism. It’s not always easy, as some days when I’m over tired it kicks in more. But I’m slowly working on adding things into my routine to help keep myself in check.

That’s the important part. Yes falling down happens, but how you pick yourself up matters more. Things always get better despite the circumstances.

Hopefully things are well for the rest of you and that the rest of this year goes well.

Hard to believe

So, now that summer is unofficially over and school is in full swing, it’s crazy to think we are knocking on fall’s door. For me, that means the countdown to hockey starting up is officially in gear and I’m less than a month away from my season starting up.

It’s hard to believe I’m that close to starting my season but it’s even harder to believe we are less than 4 months away from 2025. This year seems to have blown by like crazy!

To update a little since my last post, back around my birthday, my sister had gotten me a self help book for autism to find ways to manage life as an adult on the spectrum. Well when I grazed through it, I noticed there was a part that had said autistics are low on certain vitamins that most people aren’t.

So when I had mentioned that to my parents, I sent them the page in the book to see if they were things we had at home. Which in fact we did. And since I’ve been taking them regularly, I’ve noticed so many good changes in my brain that it’s crazy to think how much it’s helped.

I’m able to go in public for an extended amount of time without getting severe social anxiety. I’m not having meltdowns as frequently anymore. I’m able to see things, for the most part, more clearly, although social cues are still an issue.

These are just the things I’ve happened to notice but there could be more than that.

Even though it’s minor stuff to most people, these things are huge wins for me and it’s been a great change to know that it’s made a difference.

Even though it may have helped me manage my symptoms more, that doesn’t mean it will do the same for others.

I hope everyone is having a great time with life and everything is going as well as could be expected for everyone.

Little update

I’ve been horrible about updating blogs the last couple years and I’m sorry to my regular readers. After all life happens right? Plus writers block has been hitting hard the last couple years so coming up with ideas has been, well, difficult to say the least.

As far as life goes, I’ve been trying the best I can to stay busy. My family now has two little pups. Well maybe not so little. One is just over a year and a half and the other just turned 10 months. So crazy! It’s been wonderful to have them around despite a few challenges here and there.

Back in June, I did a hockey tournament in Chicago and had an amazing time as always. Any chance to play is a good time in my eyes. My team also played really well and I was impressed with how much everyone improved from last year! Plus the memories will always stick with me.

The summer itself was kind of boring but oddly great at the same time after that. Where I work, which is a local high school, we do deep cleanings on classrooms that we can’t do as much of during the school year. It’s not hard, just time consuming.

There were a few things here and there we got to do of celebrating, my dad’s, mine and my sister’s birthdays. A handful of other things as well but nothing too exciting.

Then, earlier this month I played in another hockey tournament in my town and let me tell you, I haven’t played forward in so long I thought I wasn’t going to keep up. I did a lot better than I expected and even scored the best goal I’ve ever had. Even played on a penalty kill, which means my team had a penalty and we were down one player. We had 4 players instead of 5 and we had to stop the other team from scoring. So that was fun. I also got to end that same game playing with an extra player on the ice to try and score another goal. So that time we had 6 instead of 5.

That tournament had so many positive takeaways that it’s put me in a great mood ever since. Outside of those hockey tournaments, not much has happened this summer, which is fine. Sometimes quiet summers can be a good thing. Especially since my hockey season will be ramping up in a couple weeks and will keep me busy.

Hope everyone is still doing well. Enjoy the last little bit of summer before school starts back up!

Struggles on the spectrum

As of recently, I very much went through a very hard mental health phase. Mainly due to trusting a person I thought wanted to be my friend, who turned out to be someone who didn’t have my best interests at heart.

To elaborate, anytime I had a problem with something, whether it was with this person or someone else, this person cared more about what was going on with others more than something that had to do with them.

Now, due to autism, I didn’t always say things the proper way, vocally or with my tone, so it probably came out worse than I intended. Meaning, it may have sounded like an attack more than an attempted conversation. Unfortunately, it led to many circumstances of needing a break with no resolution to how to handle going forward.

I’m no where near the best at picking up on social cues or understanding how to properly give boundaries without being specifically told what those are and how to respect them. No matter what I had been telling said person about this, it never worked. The more I said actually, the worse it got.

To the point where this person was thriving on my breakdown and using another to make me go crazy.

Thankfully I recognized the pattern and started to understand this person wasn’t who I needed in my life and made sure to tell them not to bother coming back.

Yes it’s going to be uncomfortable for me and this person, maybe a couple others, for a while. That’s fine. But the thing I know is the ones who want to talk to me are the ones who like me for me and are willing to help me think clearly or understand a situation better. Those people are my people. Those people understand patience and they are the ones that the way I acted was out of character.

Special needs families understand the struggles that their child, parent, aunt, uncle, cousin, grandparent, or others deal with. Friends that understand are just as important.

These reasons are why I’m glad I have my hockey team. Even with the array of disabilities, the struggles are more than real across the board.

Those who did reach out and know how hard it’s been lately for me, thank you. I wish I could say the last few months have been easier. But in all due reality, I felt like I was being treated as a target more than anything by this person. I’m sad I trusted them too soon but it was also a good learning experience for me.

I just hope things like this can be a way for others to help their disabled person navigate life in a world that can be cruel.

As time changes

A few months ago I started noticing a change towards me from people. As I’ve tried to figure out what the problem was, it turned out it was miscommunication between these people and I on how to deal with me being autistic.

Thankfully after discussing things with those people, things have worked themselves out for the better but it got me thinking. How does one on the spectrum learn to properly communicate their accommodations without making it sound like they are trying to change people’s behavior?

Now, I know that is a very open ended question as coming from the millennial generation, things aren’t always as easy to change as they are for the younger generations. Yes there is room for people to change in any generation, but not everyone is always going to be the same.

It makes me question, are the right people going to find me?

The truth of the matter is at some point those right people will be there. Granted I have found that with my hockey team and that has been the greatest blessing I could have ever asked for. The hockey community is a different breed of humans that I never expected to experience in my life.

Yes, that community makes a huge difference in my life and I will be forever grateful for the people I’ve met and the experiences I continue to have. The hardest part? It will always be dealing with people outside of the hockey community.

Yes I have met some amazing people, and some of those people have been fantastic at learning how to deal with me after some ups and downs. Some people, not so much. And that’s completely ok with me. The people who aren’t ok with me aren’t worth my time.

After years of dealing with jobs and others outside of just school you’d think I’d be more at ease with learning how to deal with the struggles that come with autism and dealing with others.

But at the end of the day, the older I get, the harder it actually gets to deal with society. I know not everyone will be cruel towards differences, but not everyone is the same.

Some days are going to be harder than others, and that’s normal for everyone. But for someone on the spectrum who struggles with communication and socialization, those hard days turn even harder when trying to understand why people have a hard time dealing with me.

I wish I could say things get better as you get older being autistic. But the reality is, after years of masking my true identity, it gets harder learning how to differentiate between people who genuinely care and ones who want you around.

Burnout from masking is real. Meltdowns from sensory overload are real. Autism is real.

The way a person presents themselves to not be autistic is real.

Autism is always real.

The people who know that this is the case are the ones who understand when I say that parents worry for an autistic/special needs child, no matter how old, will never fade.

But despite the struggles, there’s more to me than just autism.

I bring humor, care, a love for sports, a passion for hard work and so much more.

I know one day society will see special needs children and adults as more than just a diagnosis. I just hope that day comes sooner than later.

Until then, I will find ways to manage and hope that the right people will want me to stick around as long as they choose to keep me.

Haven’t posted in a while

Since it’s been almost two months since my last update I thought I’d take time to give another.

Over the course of the last few months, I’ve been noticing that the main reason my autism hasn’t been as prevalent the last several months is because my job allows me to have the perfect amount of stimulation needed to keep it under control.

Unlike my last job that was completely chaotic and routine breaking all the time, my job now gives me the satisfaction of having the same thing to do every day. Yes some days we have someone call in and I may have to do a little extra, but that’s not that bad.

Unfortunately though, with my autism being under control, I’m noticing ADHD is a bit all over the place. That is going to be a work in progress as autism is my main diagnosis and that’s an easier one to attempt to control for me.

Outside of that, not much has been different. Unfortunately my hockey season has been winding down and I’m in the last month of the season. But I do have some off season stuff I get to do that I’m looking forward too.

On a completely different note, to those who have been regularly deciding to search for my blog and read it every week thank you! The last month and a half since my last post my views have sky rocketed to close to 200 views for the year! That’s insane so early on! Thank you to whoever is doing it! I’m glad you keep deciding to come back and read it for whatever reason.

I hope everyone is having a decent winter so far. I know I am! Not much snow this year and above normal temps most of the winter? I’ll take it over what we normally get! Just think spring is almost here! I can’t wait for the warmer weather to kick in.

Weird week

To say 2024 hasn’t had a few surprises would be an understatement.

To say things are still going well would be an even bigger one.

Everything was going fairly well, and still is for the most part, but some unexpected things came up that made things interesting to say the least.

For starters, I’m on day number 4 in a week of having off because of bad weather. Which I mean I’m not going to complain but as time goes on cabin fever is really starting to hit.

Another day, my coworkers and I were waiting to leave work and the fire alarm decided to go off the last twenty minutes of the shift.

And this is where my autism decided to kick in. Loud noises like that later at night kick in my autism to the point of a borderline meltdown. Mind you this was close to 11pm so my brain is working on shutting down for the night.

After that was all taken care of my brain just couldn’t recoup the next day and I was all out of sorts. Thankfully the day after was a snow day so I had a chance to chill out a little.

But that’s when a bad snow storm started coming through and ever since it’s been an anxious time for me while simultaneously still being in a good mood.

It’s been a weird ride of a week to say the least. To the point that I’ve gotten so bored with social media that I’ve been binging a podcast I started two weeks ago to catch up on it on the days I’ve had off. And I’m spending some time coloring while listening to this podcast in between shoveling and whatever else I can do to keep busy.

Most days I’ve been able to get through at least 4 in a day that I’ve had off but lately I’m getting through 6 or more just to keep my mind occupied. And it helps time go faster as well.

I know things will get better as time goes forward but it’s definitely been a weird time for a lot of people.

Hopefully things are going well for all of you as well.

New year, better changes

Now that we are several days into the new year, it seems like it’s time to do a check in. Normally, this would be the start of everyone dropping off their resolutions, people getting the winter blues, especially living in the north with all that snow, and things just seem to drag on.

Well, to me, it’s so far been the fastest two weeks of a new year that I’ve ever witnessed. By Monday we will already be halfway through January. That’s a weird concept, especially since we just started this year.

That aside, I can’t believe that I’ve kept up my mood so far this year. I ended 2023 the same way I started 2024 and that in itself is an awesome thing. Things seem to be going fairly well so far.

Even with dealing with autism, it’s still not being uncooperative. Occasionally I have sensory issues, mainly hearing sensitivity, and now that winter is here I have to be careful with plows and the flashing lights when driving at night. Those flashing lights send me into a slight panic, especially when it’s dark out.

Outside of those things I’m able to function like what I’d assume a normal person would. Time will tell how long it will last but things are looking good for the near future!

Hopefully you all are able to keep up whatever resolutions you have set in place. Sticking to them is always hard but I’ve found it’s better to have someone know what you plan on changing so they can hold you accountable.

It usually works.

I hope you all are doing well and continue to move forward in positive ways!

The new year comes

As we end the last few hours of 2023, I can tell people are looking forward to a new year of new changes for the better.

I, for one, am definitely ready for some changes in a better direction. 2023 tested me on many different levels emotionally and I don’t know how I made it through some days. I lost, I won, and everything in between.

But I think most importantly I didn’t give up.

My autism, for starters, has been the most under control this year than any other year prior. That in itself is amazing. Yes I have moments where it gets hard, like hearing sensitivity, or not understanding certain social cues.

But outside of that, I don’t think I’ve had a major meltdown from overstimulation since early in the year. That is a very big accomplishment for anyone who’s autistic.

Also, as someone who doesn’t do a whole lot of talking, because being an introvert is an amazing thing, I’ve talked more this year than I ever have any year prior. Even that is a miracle for me, as I’m not usually one who even talks much to begin with.

Next year, I think it will be the year where I grow even more into who I need to be. The little snippets of me that have come through this last year can only get better right? I mean they do say the best is yet to come, so I can only imagine how much better things will get from here on out.

Hopefully you all are having a wonderful end of the year party wherever you are celebrating from and that things get better for you starting next year, if they haven’t already.

The only thing I ask to end this year is your not busy, is to take time to reflect on all the good and bad things that have happened to you and see how far you’ve come since then. Next year will be your year as well to grow more than you ever thought possible.

Hopefully you all have a safe and happy new year!