This world has a lot to offer. On the daily we are presented influences or are being persuaded to do or purchase things to profit from something or someone else. As autistic people we tend to easily give into things without really researching their merit or value. Through time and experience, I have learned to build a defensive guard and not give into the tempting things that our world offers.

Throughout life, I have been continuously made aware of the dangers and temptations of the world. I must give credit to my parents and some esteemed authoritative figures out there that made clear to me of the “too good to be true things” that are out there. If I am honest, I cannot say that I deeply held my word when it has come to not giving into temptation of things that I know that I do not need or may sound too good to be true. It set me back several times financially and if I do not go to stores or shop online with a list of things in my mind, I will allow my brain to jump from place to place and then I buy things that I do not need and this at times has had some very challenging debates and conversations with my family because I did not consult or seek their assistance when making purchases.

The same can be said for the ways of social media. It can be a hotbed of peer pressure and there is constant pressure to give content creators a like, follow and subscribe, whatever it may be to get the creator on the other end of the screen their pleasure. On the other hand, many content creators of the neurodiverse community can get easily hurt when their following decreases or they shell out money for their promotion of their content or product.

For my content creation, it has never been about the needing to sell myself in that manner or shell out money for a following. I feel that it will and can come naturally. That is because I am such a caring, thoughtful person that is so appreciated, and I am learning to accept the compliments that are given to me for my work. I made a vow that I was never be in the business of profiting from my story or any of the good gesture that I do. Support is always welcome in an in-kind way like an Amazon List, but I never feel that I need to profit from my experience as I would never want to have anyone have to be desperate and pay for the knowledge when they need it the most, because I have been at those moments.

 As contrarious as it may be, autistic folk are a very caring and pleasing kind of people. We want to make people feel good in many cases, we had a challenging time detecting that love being reciprocated upon us. We feel that pleasing someone by liking or supporting them even when we may not find it entertaining and challenging for us to endure going through something just for the likeness, even though it was hard for us to do is only hurting ourselves and our mental health.

After a few very toxic relationships, I had to learn how to build a boundary and say no to the things that I did not want to do or happen to me. With me, there was always this reservation of someone being angry with me or it is producing conflict or negative energy that I do not want. But honestly, when I began to stand my ground, I began to feel some sense of relief that I can stand my ground appropriately and not give into doing things that I do not want to do because I understand that it is not the right thing, or it causes things that I do not want to experience.

This Is a different than expanding outside of your comfort zone when doing things that are beneficial for your well-being. As much as anxiety can play a role in our decision-making process, it is important to know and understand all the dynamics of what something involves before we make decisions that we may not realize that we will eventually enjoy.

However, when you know what a decision totally involves, and you realize and accept the actions of standing your ground or defining your boundaries so you are more informed when it comes to making your decisions, the better off you will be in defining who you want to like, see, or do in your life.

Life is all about choices. You are not always going to make the right decisions and mistakes will happen as no one is ever perfect. But remembering to give yourself grace and being the person that you want to be by defining the way that you are going to experience things in your life will go a long way in ensuring that you are living the life that you want.