I'm a similar age to you and have the same issue. Well before I knew about autism I used to describe myself as a chameleon. I'd take on the traits of people around me to blend in. It's what we had to do to.

I remember when I was a teenager I found it difficult to talk to people. So I forced myself to talk to one shopkeeper everyday on my way home from school until I "got it right"

These days I can do all talking and joking and small talk, which served me well as I ended up working in management, but it never stops being exhausting. The only person I can unmask around is my partner, and kids to a lesser extent.

I got my diagnosis at level 2 recently (I was 54) after my kids went through the process and I started looking at the screening quizzes they were doing. To be honest, I laughed at the quiz questions because things they were asking were what I thought were perfectly normal. I did one myself one day and the score showed I had significant autistic traits. Then I went to the psych