What If The Problem Isn’t You?
For most of my life, I thought I was the problem.
I thought I was too sensitive. Too slow. Too quiet. Too tired. Too much, and not enough, all at once.
I couldn’t keep up with school, with socializing, with the constant noise of the world. I masked through friendships, meetings, entire seasons of my life. I blamed myself for not thriving in environments that felt designed to deplete me. I thought I just needed to try harder, be better, fix myself.
But then I was diagnosed and suddenly, everything shifted.
Not because I was different, but because I always had been. And now I had language for it.
It wasn’t that I was broken. It was that the systems around me were built for a different kind of brain. One that runs on urgency, productivity, perfection. One that assumes sameness and punishes anything slower, softer, or more cyclical.
Getting that diagnosis changed my life.
Not because it solved everything, but because it gave me permission to stop trying to become someone I was never meant to be.
Since then, I’ve been slowly building a life that’s quieter. Gentler. More autistic-friendly — even if the world doesn’t always know what that means. I’ve unlearned hustle culture. I’ve redefined what success looks like. I’ve chosen slowness, softness, silence — not because they’re easy, but because they’re honest.
This blog, and The Bouncy Brain itself, are part of that rebuilding.
They’re not here to tell you how to fix yourself.
They’re here to remind you that you don’t need fixing.
You need care. You need space. You need systems that make sense for you.
If you’ve ever felt like the world wasn’t made for your brain, you’re not alone. You’re not too much. You’re not a problem to solve.
You’re a person to support. To affirm. To listen to.
And you’re allowed to move through life differently.
Come as you are, take what you need. I’ll be here.
