Being seen as "high functioning" but getting burnout from masking
People often perceive me as high functioning even though it takes me so much energy to mask (just so I'll get accepted more). Now that I'm in a position where I don't really have to I seriously don't know how to unmask anymore.. and the burn out symptoms lead to selective mutism and severe social anxiety. Does anyone have tips for unmasking at school or work where autism is accepted?
@Spockette
Hello there, unmasking can be done little by little, like you was peeling the mask intead of removing it.
Lets say I am masking my values and I bully other people so I dont get bullied myself. I could start by doing less severe jokes to others, spending more time with less bully people and slowly moving from one group that bully to others groups that have a more neutral behavour.
Lets say I am masking my love for "star treck" and say to my friends that I love "football". I could start by slowly moving from "football" to some other hobby that is less common like "mistery movies", then I could discover "sci fiction" some months later, to finally see some of the newest "star treck" films with some friends.
With social things, you could admit to some friends that you have "some" problems knowing how to understand certain behavours, some time after that you may feel more confortable in small groups dinamics and so on, peeling the maks slowly and giving time to others to accept the new you as an evolution of yourself instead of a "new" you that is totally different of what they accepted.
Its important that you feel ok with the unmasking proccess. If the unmasking is done too fast some people will feel that you lie to them or played with their feelings. That happens a lot with LGTB community when they unmask themselves.
On the other hand if the unsmaking is done too slow there is inner burning like you describe.
Some people hide their conditions, some others use their conditions as flags. There is some middle term too.
Hope it helps a little. 😊
@Spockette
Hello, today I just found a very good video about your question. I hope it will help you:
https://youtu.be/bA4gy2MTyxg
Hugs.😊
