Hi!

[winterflower]

Hey all! I'm Noah, 29F from the Netherlands.

I've been diagnosed with ASD (no specific type) for a couple years now and it's helped me a lot with getting to know myself better. Unfortunately I have a lot of experience as a mental health patient. I have spent around four years of my life in open as well as closed wards due to issues related to ASD and comorbid diagnoses. However, I am doing very well currently and live in an assisted living home.

I am interested in self improvement, mental and physical health, buddhism, spirituality in general, working out (I lift, dance and do yoga, sometimes I take a kickboxing class as well to switch things up a lil), kpop, Japan, singing, beauty and animal rights. I enjoy reading self help books as well, and rabbits are my special interest.

I have experience with psychotic tendencies, social anxiety, GAD, severe depression, AvPD, anorexia as well as BED, BDD and OCD. I have managed to recover from most of these and enjoy talking about my experiences + helping others on their paths toward recovery.

I'm looking to connect with other aspies on here in general but it would be especially amazing to find people to talk to about giftedness, animal rights/veganism and self improvement in the broadest sense (mental, physical and spiritual).

Thank you for reading and have a lovely day!

 

[Loren]

Welcome, Noah!

 

[tree]

 

[Nitro]

 

[Rodafina]

Hi Noah and welcome. Many of your experiences may be things that people here can understand. I think co-morbid conditions can often be more difficult to figure out than ASD. It can all get pretty intertwined, but as a group, we are pretty good at untangling the knots.

 

[Dagan]

Welcome. Helping others is a big part of this place, for sure.

 

[VictorR]

Welcome!

 

[Kisa the tea]

Hello and welcome to the forum, Noah! I hope you enjoy your time spent on here!

 

[Forest Cat]

Hello

 

[Shevek]

Hi Noah. From my aspie mother, I learned how to avoid getting a misdiagnosis by confusing the doctor. I finally found out what we had when I was 56, and dealing with some PTSD from trying to fit in.
There is a banner on my weather site about someone who broke up a fight between two Eagles, "and possibly saved their lives." My first reaction is that maybe they were in a one-bird territory, so the lethal fight was only delayed. I am also dismayed by people who relocate animals from the city, just assuming that they can make a home anywhere else. Animals don't use fences, but they are generally both prolific and territorial. We should track the released critters. More generally, I despair when I hear about efforts to slightly reduce the suffering of domestic animals, when their numbers, along with ours, are driving thousands of other species to extinction. Every pound of cute rescued puppy or kitten is a pound less of wild cats and canids.
I'm a life-long bicyclist, and do some meditation. One of my best friends is a major player in Vipassna. I have a weekly hour of conversation with an American ex-pat in Japan living among the rice paddies around Osaka, and using a bike there. I'm very interested in the Velomobiles you have there, and have worked on developing them myself.