I fought against my nature for years and tried the “push through the pain” method for most of my career. I burnt out of yet another job at the beginning of this year and decided I never wanted to work 9-5 again. I retrained to be a teacher and now I give afternoon and evening classes. I do sub work on the occasional morning but I won’t do two days in a row.

I’m finding a lot of my executive functioning is better now that I’ve had enough sleep! I’m no longer living in survival mode constantly.

The improvement in my quality of life is incredible. I feel like one of those people who starts their day at 5am now. I have time in the morning to eat, exercise and get ready for the day before I head in to work. But instead of getting up at 5 I’m getting up around 10 instead. It’s glorious.

Having lots of free time is key. For me, that free time affords me all the time I need for all those self care activities that suffer when I’m working full time, like showering and sleeping and keeping my living space somewhat tidy. I don’t know how people manage that when they’re working full time!!

I have a lot of lawyers in my social circle and this is definitely the case! I wonder if the “strong sense of justice” trait also attracts a lot of neurodivergent people to the industry initially.

Hi reric!

I don’t know how to exit social situations

I feel you on this one. I sat down for a chat with my neighbour the other day (they invited me in after I dropped something over) and had NO idea how to long to stay or if I was bothering them. I would stay forever if I didn’t constantly remind myself not to stay for too long. Eeek.

Anyway nice to meet you!

I’m car free for financial reasons too haha! There’s also a decent car sharing app where I live which I can use when I really need a car, like for going out to the countryside or moving something bulky. Between the upkeep of my bike, public transport tickets and occasionally renting a shared car, the cost of getting around is really low!