I get it! I've never seemed to have had the emotional strength to maintain more than one or two genuine friendships at a time, and even that has been very difficult. A therapist helped me understand more than a decade ago that because of my autism, interpersonal relationships can feel very stressful to me. That's definitely true.

Without physically going to work every day, a thing that became my reality 6 years ago when I also moved hundreds of miles away from my friends and acquaintances network, even meeting people who might become friends is stressful and difficult.

I don't blame my autism entirely, but I have to at least acknowledge that my autism presents serious challenges.

Acknowledging that is important, but knowing what to do about it is not automatic.