Happy Successful Weirdo

  When I left law, I had no idea what I wanted. So, I thought about what my younger self loved : Writing stories and silly songs Wandering outside looking for sticks Making rose-petal potions Visiting museums and bookshops Organizing my collections Dressing up as monsters and Disney characters This led to writing gigs, marketing roles, and—eventually—where I am today, currently working in public affairs, writing this blog and learning to be a mindfulness coach. There are many ways to build a fulfilling life. Black-and-white thinking is an autistic trait, but life is full of possibilities. Social media, however evil it's touted to be, can actually be so helpful. If like me, you have a poor social imagination and can't easily imagine things you can't see....thinking about it, this is something I've read about as being an autistic trait, but I'm not sure anyone can do this- I just we're more honest about our limitations.... I digress, social media can give you gr...

  I know. It has 6 letters, I mean a four letter word as in a swear word. However, it's more damaging than shit, fuck or bugger (another 6 letter word.) When you should yourself, you, in fact, screw yourself. Should is what other people think you ought to do. The other people could be your best friend from when you were twelve, your horrible-ex, your mum, your next-door neighbour, your year 9 English teacher. What do all these people have in common? They are not you. How many times have you sat innocently minding your own business- and then you hear it. It's starts quietly at first, but it gets louder and louder. 'I shouldn't be doing this, I should be doing....' cleaning the house, curing cancer, working out. The worst thing about it is that you believe it, of course that's what you should be doing- any of those things would be better then sitting on your arse picking fluff from between your toenails, right? Cue the Family Fortunes 'eh-eh' noise, becaus...

  Who IS she? Who EVEN is she? When I started putting pen to paper (or, in reality, finger to key) this was going to be a book- and it was going be specifically for autistic women- as I am definitely one of those- and thought that's who I should (more on that later) be speaking to. However, the more I thought, the more that box grew larger. So this blog, this offering, is for anyone who feels like they should be crushing it at life and just....isn't. (Spoiler alert: you actually might be- you just don't feel like you are.) So with all of that exposition (I hate exposition in movies but weirdly do a lot of it in life....) out of the way, this was going to be my chapter one. No one, really. Like you, I’m doing my best, and I certainly don’t have it all figured out. But—and it’s a big but—the statistics show that autistic women face staggering challenges. If I’m defying those odds, I should be shouting about it from the rooftops, even if my life isn’t perfect or what people e...