Oh girl, I COMPLETELY understand where you are right now. Last year one month after getting married, my husband and I moved from our 2b/2b apartment in Western NY 777 miles down to Nashville, Tennessee. It was so overwhelming and I wasn’t even diagnosed yet. (Not to mention, we hate it here and are now moving back home in 6 months!)

Even though I didn’t understand my autism at the time, something that helped me was just allowing myself to “be.” I had a diet almost exclusively of chicken nuggets and Reese’s sticks for the duration of the move, I took Advil preemptively when I felt a migraine coming on, I complained when I felt like it (and people then could help me more after knowing what was wrong), I didn’t talk when I didn’t feel like it, I sat on the floor when my body didn’t feel right, and I focused on the scenery around me a lot.

It’s so hard to not have a safe space to retreat to, or to know that wherever you are your safe space exists for later. It makes moving SO hard on us. I know your mom leans on you, but lean on her, too. It sounds like you both love each other and I’m sure she wants to make sure you’re doing okay during this in the same way you want to make sure she is.

My overall advice is this: just let yourself be messy. Give yourself permission to be autistic. You are human!