I used to yell at the TV. I love horror movies, most other shows are unrelatable to me. Commercials targeting literally everyone but me, pressing me with what I "need" when in fact I hate 95% of it. Sports fans screaming on about people I don't know playing a game I never understood, let alone cared about the outcome of. A seemingly alien macho affection for vehicles, the expensive, loud, dangerous thing that gets you from point A to point B faster, as if it had some hidden value I was supposed to acknowledge. Comedies where I noticed a laugh track signaling me when it is supposed to be funny, where my laugh is closer to a parrots mimicry. Not really understanding why I should be laughing. Drama, that made me so sick to my stomach I had to leave the room, or suffer an anxiety attack. And if you didn't agree with me on any if the above, you were stupid, so stupid, I didn't want to talk to you until explaining why my views are more logical. After I was diagnosed with autism at age 45 this rebelilous hatred of broadcast went from my unique view, my beat of a different drummer to, well buddy, all this comes from the same source, your miswired brainpan. Knowing that sans autism I would be most likely part of what I see as an insane and dull minded majority, is a bout of depressive reality I have no stomach for. I have no special resistance, I am not magicaly endowed with an IQ so high my towering intellect rises to a whole different level than the drooling simpletons I share no values with. I instead feel deglamoured, siphoned, less robust. Still hate TV but now I wonder how insane my rants must have looked all these years. I for the first time feel doubt, instead of unshakable confidence. Second guessing the sources of my hardships, from "they are morons", "don't need idiots anyway", "I can do this better on my own" to..." oh crap, is this just my autism? ", or "wow I had a script I had been using for 30 years, and it's earned me some genuine suffering and regret, now I have no idea what to say". My learned aggressive approach to defend my views now subdued, no longer a screen dominating program, but a quiet background app. Yes some people feel new life with a diagnosis of autism. I just had my perspective shook up out of my broken kaleidoscope, and handed a telescope for the first time with no idea what I am looking at. I understand now why I can't hold a job or multitask, but I felt waaay better before I found out medically it's on me rather than the world. It wasn't worth it, my gifts being explained away. Not everyone can say they have literally gone through a Twilight Zone quality paradigm shift and live in a world of suspicion and alienation without Kevorkian-like thoughts ending everything. One thing hasn't changed for me though, I still love my horror movies. #Depression #Anxiety #Confidence #PTSD #neurodiverse #insane #Horror