Living independently as an autistic person for nearly seven years then struggling with adhering to my mental health medications without realizing the power that they provided to my well-being has always been a struggle until the beginning of this year. What has since been a process has been understanding the realities of what not taking my medication involves and the further danger that could happen that could further complex things, but also it has taken to learning what the perfect balance must be for living independently as an autistic person with mental health challenges and striving for an optimal quality of life in the process.

I’ll admit, there was the many years in the past that I thought that many things were not possible because my brain was flawed in nature to think that the medications were more of a barrier to what I wanted to do as I discovered in life. I constantly believed that my life would always be held back because of something so simple as my challenges and my medications, but lately I discovered there should be no shame in either nor are those superstitions that I had were true. If I was true and genuine to the person that I wanted to be while taking care of my mental health in the process, then people would care for me for the right reasons.

As we go into the summer seasons, the last two summers have been nothing but an epic disaster. I am looking forward to flipping the script so to speak because I have acknowledged the fact that I need to work on all of my dimensions of both my mental and physical wellness as they are equally important. As I have seen a person’s diet is not solely what they eat or drink, rather it is every single thing that they do to take care of themselves and things like medications for managing my mental health or having to do things in order to stabilize or protect my mental health is in no way different from taking care of my physical health.

In the last few years when I have practiced illicit behavior, I have always known that medications used for my anxiety were crucial. The first year I was more destructive than the second year not knowing that the other medications in my regimen were both necessary to keep everything balanced. Now being able to understand and see things better, I now realize that it is no different than taking medication for any other ailment along with understanding the necessity of sleep and other elements of adulting as being autistic and having those mental health challenges in the process.

My ‘word’ for 2025 has been HONESTY. And that has been something that I have continued to hold down to throughout the calendar year. As we progress into the summer months I am working more to find the balance I need to manage myself in the process of my challenges and not letting them stop them from getting in my way by effectively managing them.