Moving to France as an Autistic Person: Meltdown, Anxiety, Trauma… | Part 2

Hi! In this two-part video, I share my experience moving from the UK to France as an autistic person and how I struggled with change, social interactions, my toxic landlady, French culture and my overall mental health. Please like this video, leave a comment and subscribe if you'd like to follow me on this journey :)

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[bethlong]

Look at you go! Sounds like a super difficult time for a lot of reasons, a lot of which would be hard for non-autistic people and only harder if you struggle with social interactions etc., but you've made it, you're doing the thing and you should give yourself a lot of credit for being so strong to survive and even be able to talk about it all so soon. Sounds like you've already worked out a lot of ways that you can help yourself cope and that you're working through making them more automatic and finding others, so good for you for that too :)
Good luck with the next steps, moving to a new country is really hard at the best of times, but it looks like you're setting up a lot of the things that will make it less difficult <3

[donnellallan]

Thank you for sharing your experiences, Paune. I like you so much, and realizing that I see myself in you, your stories are helping me to better like myself.

I am so glad that you have found a partner who is a good match for you. I was married for 38 years and masked the whole time. Now I am on my own, and your example is helping me to know how to reset my life. I appreciate that very much. 💜

[stephenie]

In regards to having all of the food brands you had as a kid and that feeling weird because it wasn’t the best of times: my partner makes a point of making new memories with things like that so that those new memories are what are brought up when she sees them instead of the childhood memories.

Obviously it also just takes time to adjust.

[InTheOpines]

What a good idea to filter the toxic landlady's messages through chat GPT! I'm glad you have a better landlord now.

[sarahb]

I am not suprised this whole move has been overwhelming. It's alot to cope with and being back in France sounds quite an adjustment compared to the UK, even though you are from France. Alone time is definitely helpful, I quite often take myself off if I am struggling and thankfully my partner understands, it is just so much easier to just be in your own company and replenish those spoons...😊 I am gluten free and we went on holiday to France in the summer and it was hard eating out compared to the uk. Also alot less gluten free items in the supermarket in France. I do love the space and openess of France, compared to the UK where I feel it's so crowded everywhere whereas you can walk and drive for miles in France without seeing anyone....bliss...🤣😂Hope you can start to settle, get a routine and remember the self care.👍😊

[laura.bseyoga]

I've had my share of landlords from hell - you've handled it really well. Hope you manage to settle into a routine soon 💚