I've been trying to cultivate my home as a place my friends feel comfortable showing up to. There's a bunch of people (too many) in my life who are going through tough stuff, and lately more and more they just show up for a chat, reading a book in peace and quiet, or sleep over and have a night away from home if they need it.

It's not so much them being welcome that feels like an accomplishment (because that's just a given), but rather that they seem to have internalized that it's OK to ask for help/support and feel comfortable enough with me/us to come here.

As I'm typing this out I'm not sure if this fits in the "betterment" category, but it's a positive change in my life I've noticed and worked on lately, so submitting it anyway. 😊

Aw, so cute. And love the names ❤️

I feel this.

Over the past couple of years I've made a conscious effort, when someone just doesn't get it, instead of being annoyed, to feel happy for them. Why? Because apparently they have no experience with their body or brain limiting them. With experiencing something that they can't just change or push through. With struggling to do something that comes easy to others. So, they're lucky, and I try to think "good for you".

Of course that isn't fool proof, I do still get frustrated at times, but it really surprised me how trying to create this perception shift in myself actually helped me.

Interesting question. I actually had a conversation about this with friends recently, one of the group had just gotten an ASD diagnosis and we realised we were all neurodivergent--except, did I count? We quickly concluded that that didn't really matter, but now I'm curious what y'all think.

Due to a medical event years ago, I suffered brain damage. It didn't really "break" functions, but since then I've had trouble with concentration, energy, mental planning, and perhaps most importantly I get overstimulated really easily. I can't handle a conversation while the radio is on, I wear ear plugs when I need to go into a shop, I can't watch busy/flashy tv shows, if someone is fiddling with something in their hands I get an urge to run away, etc. It might not sound like much to some, but it's left me unable to work (there's more than I described).

I realise that neurodivergence is mostly used for differently developed brains. But mine also don't function "typically". What do you think?

(And just to reiterate, it really doesn't matter, I know how I am and how my brain works now and a label isn't important to me, I'm just wondering if the general public would find it strange if I said I'm neurodivergent).

I have a similar thing for checking spelling! Don't write it in the air, but if I need to figure out the spelling of something, I just write it down and see if the colors are right. Works better in my native language than in English, especially because for some words the colors are "right" for American spelling, and for others it's the British...