This Autism Journey

Hello! It’s been a while. My youngest and I have gone through a challenging season. We are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, hurray!! Just as things seem to be getting back to normal, here come the holidays! Ack!!

The holidays, what can I say? They are naturally very stressful and can be quite wonderful. They also trigger a cycle of grief inside of me; not major grief but a thin veil of sadness. I grieve about not being able to recreate what I love best about the holidays because it is too overwhelming for my children. I grieve having to always think outside the box and I just want to be in the box doing what everyone else does during the holiday season.

If you feel like this I want you to know that you are not alone in your grief or disappointment of the holiday season. Parenting Autistic children during a regular time of year is challenging and adding extra expectations can feel overwhelming. I did my best and I believe you are doing your best. You may be tempted to be hard on yourself because you sense your frustration also grows, and you would not be wrong!! But my guess is that the motivation behind that frustration was love. So, give yourself some grace.

So to those parents raising Autistic kids, good job. Well done. You have made it through another year. I’m sure there are tears, heartache, laughter, joy, frustration, sadness, stress, anger, resolve, growth, and love you experienced this year. Maybe you felt all of that in one day but you are here and you made it and your kids made it and that’s something to look back on and be proud of.

So take a deep breath, look around, feel all the feelings good or bad, and give yourself a pat on the back because you gave it your best. Your best is the best!

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! See you in 2025!

Take care,

Heather