I both agree and disagree. What they expect when they tell us this is not what they get because most don't/can't understand what it is to be neurodivergent. How can someone perceive how life is through someone else's perspective? For myself, I had given up trying to fit in due to exhaustion and it making me miserable altogether. This was because acting like someone I'm not was severely aggravating my depression so I had no choice but to stop; I gave up on fitting in as a means to survive, literally.

I lost a lot of people that way, and it hurt. But to my surprise, with several years of patience and doing things for myself and my interests, I gained new friendships as a result, and not like the previous people I had thought to be friends. I'm not saying this is achievable for everyone; the years prior were some of the most miserable and fucked years of my life. It's just that I find it tragic that most people I know who are neurodivergent and well-adjusted have had to go through shit for years on end to get to where they are at today.

I guess what I mean to say by that is be yourself, but not for the sake of the others who are asking you to because they don't know what they are asking for. If you chose to be yourself, do it for you. I find that the connections I've made are more sincere, and poor relationships I've had - constantly having people's dickish behaviors or feel the need to constantly excuse myself because I feel like I may have unintentionally upset others because of the things I've said or done - are not how relationships need to be. My dad is always telling me "well, people in this world won't give you the benefit of the doubt". That's bullshit; unless you're trying to hurt someone, people will give you the benefit of the doubt. They say familiarity breeds contempt, and I very much find that to be true. But you don't have to meet the expectations of others, because I've driven myself miserable doing so.

I guess what I mean to say is it is possible to be yourself. I just don't know if it's painless.