autism and making friends

Hi @Eden1919

i dont have austism, but my close friend does. We havent met physically but I've known him for about 2 years now and i have been working with him to be more confident and believe in himself more and it has helped so so much. He's amazing now (not that he wasnt before) but hes is making more friends etc.

How I have helped him is focus on urself and find who u r as a person. Thats the main thing.

If you want more help please lmk, I'm more then happy to. ❤

@Doog i am sorry you can relate.

@creative_writer yes i try not to force friendships or anything like that but it is hard i am often asked why i am not more social and i try to be but it is hard when you only have a few friends who are often busy themselves. i only have about 10 friends all up and half of them dont even live in the same state as me. i just dont really know what to do because everyone always seems to get sick of me or bored of me and i try but yeah it is hard and there arent many places to make friends here either.

@Pem i have tried being myself but that seems to be the problem no one wants to be friends with me except a few people and 4 of them are new friends who i am not sure will last yet.

Hi @Eden1919 I have autism too and don’t really have friends, only online ones who are also neurodivergent, I do feel lonely and would like friends in person but don’t know where to start 😞

@Eden1919 Dont lose hope lovely. I know you may feel like ur dealing with this alone but i promise ur not. I'm here for you and so is everyone else.

Keep positive and believe in yourself. U have already made progress, ur reaching out to for help. Please keep faith.

May i ask how u approach people?...With my friend i found that he wouldnt give those people space and its not a bad thing. But ur special and ur brain processes things differently, please dont beat urself up about it. Ur amazing and if people dont want to be friends with u then they dont deserve ur caring and lovingness 🤗

Hope this is all okay to say.

@mrkibbles i am sorry you are dealing with the same problem it really is hard making new friends especially as an adult. have you tried going to hobby groups maybe? idk just a thought.

@Pem well when i approach people physically i give them plenty of space because i dont like being to close to people and emotionally i like to think i give them space but to be honest i am not sure how much space is normal and how much is not. anyway when i approach people i will say hi and ask basic questions like they name and what they are interested in or the reason for coming to whatever event we are at and stuff like that basic questions i try to ask more about them than i say about myself to make sure i am not taking over the conversation and making it all about me and yeah then we talk about whatever the discussion leads us too. even if i find it a little boring sometimes.

hello @Eden1919 , @mrkibbles , @creative_writer

My husband`s has ASD @creative_writer

@creative_writer yeah i have been trying to find online stuff but it can be very overwhelming sometimes so i have to pace myself otherwise it becomes too much but i havent found much that is australia specific so idk but i will keep looking.