this explains a lot of why i have trouble socialising with non-autistic folks
i feel literal pain if someone is talking to me about a thing i'm not interested in and i have to pretend to be engaged, especially if it's something they've already told me about before
didn't realise this wasn't a universal experience. i usually try to not talk about things other people don't care about to save them the same pain i feel, and was very confused why nobody else ever did the same, lol
@cinnamon i feel this too! maybe it's a thing that adhd overlaps with?
if i talk about a thing that i feel like someone else isn't into, i feel really self-conscious that i'm taking up their time
i think this is because it's very hard for me to focus on things that don't interest me, which makes it take a lot of effort to try and stay engaged with someone who clearly really likes a thing, because i don't want to trample on their enthusiasm
but i also don't want to put others into that sitch
@cinnamon huh! i'll definitely need to give that a watch!
because like, coming at this from the opposite side you are, i see so much overlap, so it'd be neat to understand what the heck is going on with that, ahah