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I Was Overjoyed to Shelter at Home.
Isolation’s different for us introverts.
My first month in isolation was the best month I’ve had in years.
I’m an autistic mother, and significantly introverted. When I decided to have children, they came along with a social life that required me to participate in activities that exhausted me every single day. Before isolation, the amount time and energy I spent organizing everyone’s schedules, keeping the household running, and caring for the kids each day would have me counting the minutes until my partner got home so I could go to my room, to be alone in the quiet dark and recharge. I simplified our schedules as much as I possibly could, but I still didn’t have time or energy for my own friends, my own goals. My life was often overwhelming and lonely.
The pandemic is awful, obviously. People are dying. Our lives have been turned upside-down. But as an autistic person, staying at home, living a quiet life with my kids, is my ideal. My day-to-day life has become so much more fulfilling. There is so much more time for my personal projects, and for connection with my loved ones.
When we first went into isolation, there were so many things that were suddenly scratched from my schedule. No more driving to and from school with my kids. No more sitting in the waiting room for multiple hours a week for my kids’…
