It can be hard to imagine that I have been living on my own for nearly 5 years now, but for the majority of the time I have been functioning well. Except for falling through the whirlwind of not taking care of my mental health, it is quite luckily that I had not gotten into trouble with the legal or other system. When well, I do quite a lot independently.

I guess the skillset to become independent came quite naturally to me. In the beginning, I would be kind of shy in nature and be reluctant to speak or do things that came quite naturally like making a phone call, however, I was quite good with communicating electronically for some reason or another. Years ago, that was not always seen as an acceptable form of communication. However, eventually going to trade school over an hour away from my home caused me to need to do things on my own should I need to do things.

I was blessed to have attended school in a community that had a fair public transit system and that I was able to secure funding for bus passes so I could navigate to where I needed to go. I also took the intercity passenger rail to another town to meet family on the weekends. There were also businesses where I had to do things that required me to function in society that required things like ordering meals and paying for them. While I had not had the ability to have the social skill set at the time to communicate with others well, I do regret this later in life but have made up for it to some degree.

Things came more natural as I began to enter more experiences and luckily, I never regressed in these skills. I guess it was the reinforcement and engagement by my parents that I never lost the willingness to keep communicating and grow socially and function in society more and more as time went on. Eventually, for one reason or another, I became more socially inclined because I intersected with people with like minds and interests. Going back to Community College helped with this too and I was surprised with how many people actually communicated with me instead of pushing me to the side, as is often the case among the autistic community.

I know that I am lucky in the regard that I can function on my own for the most part and rarely require the assistance of others. It has been through the support of others that I have been blessed with the techniques to be able to do things that come quite naturally to many neurotypical people. There were many times that I felt that I felt unable to do these things that everyone takes for granted. It has even taken some trial and nature to get through the challenging moments of communicating socially and it does at times cause some anxiety to be quite honest. Nonetheless, I get through it for one reason or another.

All in all, there is hope for everyone I feel. Everyone learns at their own pace and to say I got to where I am now overnight is an understatement. It took some trial and error and a lot of practice, including roleplay in order to get to where I am today. I am truly blessed to be where I am today because I know there could be many other different outcomes that would not be as pleasant. Do not give up if you reach a setback, learn and grow and consider it an experience because you are worth of being the person you deserve to be.