One Year Reflections

April marked one year of Seeking Sara! Can you believe it? (I still don’t!) I intended to write this post in time for the anniversary. Then by the end of April. Then by the end of May… and here we finally are on June 1st. Better late than never!

It’s been a very strange thing to reach such a huge milestone and goal, feeling so accomplished and proud, and then hit a huge, daunting wall. That wall had “Now what?” scrawled across it in bright, tacky, overpowering paint.

It’s about time I start knocking down that wall.

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1 Year Reflections

I’m sitting here in my first meet-up with a local writing circle, trying desperately to throw some ideas that might stick to the page—er, screen— and I’m reminded of lyrics from “Seasons of Love” from RENT.

“Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes.

How do you measure… measure a year?”

So how do I measure this year? In followers? In views? In insights and number of blog posts?

Well, in this first year, my blog has been viewed 12,133 times by 6,537 readers. Wow!

But is that the best way to measure this past year? Should I look at metrics and agonize over how many posts each reader stuck around to read? Check out my social media accounts and tally followers? Count how many posts I’ve written?

No. That’s not why I write, and that’s not a full look into this past year. So just how do you measure a year?

I answer this question with the response in the RENT song:

“How about love?”

How about the community that I have been welcomed into? The friends I have made this year? Out of everything that has happened to me in this past year, finding lifelong friends within the Autistic community has been one of the single biggest highlights. The number of people I have connected with is quite honestly beyond my wildest imagination. Before my blog, before joining Twitter… I had no idea there were so many like-minded people (pun kind of intended. Sorry. Kind of.) just a mouse click away. I was just hoping for one new friend—one new person who thought like me. And I found hundreds.

This past April, Edge of the Playground (@EdgeofPlayground) and I collaborated with a bunch of Autistics to make a video that’s been viewed over 20,000 times across all platforms! If you had told me last year that I would get to edit and produce a positive video with a bunch of awesome Autistic folks for April, I would have laughed! I wouldn’t believe something like that could happen.

“How about love?”

The support I’ve found in those around me has been more than I could have asked for. I routinely have friends and acquaintances tell me they’ve read something on Seeking Sara that made them think, made them learn, and ultimately—helped them be a better ally to Autistics.

Friends and family agreed to do a series of interviews for Seeking Sara. Groups I’m in have embraced my wearing of noise-cancelling headphones at gatherings. Family friends recently gave me an early birthday gift, and it was something that shows they support and accept who I am.

It reminds me of another line from the song: “Remember a year in the life of friends”.

I’m simply blown away.

“How about love?”

So… it’s been a year. A year since I was feeling so lonely, isolated, angry… It’s startling to look back and remember what I was feeling last April. I felt so alone. There were so many things that I wanted to write and say and shout. But I felt trapped. It felt like I had duct tape over my mouth and a happy smiling mask where my face should be. The feeling of isolation was something I don’t wish on anyone.

I was telling a few people here and there about my diagnosis, but I felt like I had to carry a list of sources around with me to point at to say “Look, I’m serious! Believe me!” I didn’t feel equipped to deal with disbelief and despite being “officially” diagnosed, I didn’t fully trust myself. (Self-diagnosis is valid in a world where so many have been left behind and misdiagnosed!) It felt so strange to carry this secret around with me that I wanted so desperately to share.

If I told my past self that in a year’s time I would be editing and producing a video of Autistics, wearing noise-cancelling headphones out and about as I please, talking with tons of new Autistic friends, telling people I trust about being Autistic, and just so happy… I would never have believed it. But here I am. Surrounded by love.

“How about love?”

How about self-love? In this year, I have tackled topics on sensory issues, being ill as an Autistic, eating disorder treatment, and so much more. I’ve learned about myself, and through that process, I’ve learned to accept and embrace who I am more fully. I found part-time jobs that allow me to have the accommodations that I need, something I never would have considered asking for just a year ago. (I even wrote an article about it!)

I have profoundly changed during this past year. I have grown in more ways than I can truly examine in one single blog post.

I’m so happy to have you all along for the ride, and I truly treasure every reader who takes the time to read my little scribbles on a humble blog.

When I reflect on a year… it’s the love that’s made it so worth this milestone.

Thank you.