Many autistic people live much of their life in survival mode. We have spent so much time feeling overwhelmed, overstimulated, misunderstood, confused and scared that our minds and bodies are routinely seeing or anticipating a danger/a threat/something distressing.
Sometimes autistic people are too burnt out, overwhelmed and/or anxious to socialise. When this happens, we may need to spend time alone for our health. This is valid and doesn’t mean we’re being rude, snobby, aloof, etc. Instead, we’re being responsible amidst a personal crisis.
One perk of working so much lately is that I didn’t even try to talk myself out of buying a $40 tshirt with loons on it for money reasons today. I just bought it. As a treat.