family planned a holiday trip to the seaside, a place I've been to a few times before. I was looking forward to it, to spend the holidays in wife, daughter, granddaughter, niece, brother-in-law's wonderful company

in the past few days, I started having flashbacks about difficulties to sleep there, to recover from sensory overload with nonstop unpleasantly loud music in the neighborhood, to adapt to an intensely unpredictable routine

I ended up realizing I wouldn't be able to endure it, and decided to stay home with my routine and my quiet place. I spent days anxious about how to break the news, but when I finally did, my family was wonderfully understanding and supportive, if somewhat disappointed. I'm happy I didn't spoil their holidays, and I'm happier that now we all have a pretty solid understanding of and respect for our neurodivergent conditions, differences and shortcomings

I knew I was going to regret not going with them, and I do, but I also knew I was going to regret even more the stress I would endure there. I'd need vacations after the vacations.

#ActuallyAutistic