Since living on my own, I have found connection in many people in many different ways of connection. When I was thinking clearly, I needed someone to be there with me. It didn’t matter if it was through messenger, text, or sending each other cards. Any resonating method showed me that I need connection beyond the traditional and standard way of communicating. I searched for ways to connect with others. I wanted to fill the void when life got tough for me and sometimes for them too.

It took educating myself. I needed to have proper safeguards. Getting to know people for who they were was important. I realized that the right people connected with me for the right reasons. They had seen me for who I was and connected with me because we had unique bonds. They craved connection that wasn’t rooted in wanting the wrong things. We just needed ways to resonate and connect. This allowed us to feel our own feelings and fill the voids we walked across together in our lives.

I realized this way of connecting wasn’t strange or different. With the right boundaries and expectations, it can still be a good thing in my life. Having someone to connect with in whatever way that is can make or break the day. The same applies to what they are experiencing. It can be what makes them be at a low point. It can also lead them to brave themselves and be genuinely happy. Feeling themselves again allows us both to have a goal. We aim to make it through the day better than what we started it.

Connecting in the way I do is not for everyone. I have built a social inclination over the years. As a result, I have gotten better at reading through the lines. I know when something is a full stop. It’s time to close the channel and let it go. The reality is that we are all human. Whether we are autistic or have special needs, we seek the sense of connection with others. This connection can sometimes be within and outside traditional forms, which can be scary to some. But it has been the things I need to sometimes have. They bring me out of the way I can let myself be. I know that someone cares and connects with me in their way. I can do the same with them, even if it is not in the traditional way. It can have even more value than in-person connections. I have had that same connection with them in some ways. Nonetheless, needing it more than just when it happens is a staple in my life. It has helped me, and sometimes others, to see that there is so much more to live for. This is true even when it seems like the world is stacked against them.