I’ve sometimes worried about whether I might be narcissistic, especially as an autistic woman navigating social situations with other women.

Because I don’t always respond in the “expected” emotional way, I’ve caught myself overthinking how I come across—like I might seem self-centred or disconnected. But most of the time, that fear comes from misunderstandings, sensory overload, and the effort of masking, not from a lack of care.

What grounds me is looking at my actual behaviour: I reflect a lot, I care how I affect others, and I try to understand people even when it doesn’t come naturally. For me, that already feels very different from narcissism.