I think it was easy, for me, because I was so self-involved (in my struggles) to think I hid well from others; when, if you think about it, this dx is not a shy/blushing violet sort of dx? How did you get the dx if some outside person didn't give it to you? Might not have taken them very long to give it, either

Embracing the struggle and struggling with it openly was a better way for me to cope and come to some understanding of how it was with me and how others saw me, etc. We think we look out of our eyes and see how things are, clearly, but one of the biggest problems I have is "reality checking", checking to make sure what I see meshes well with what others see. All of that is done through communication, me telling another what I think/feel and the other responding, both to what I think feel and sharing themselves and what they think feel. One cannot "fix" anything alone, without an honest interchange; just looking at something or reading a book, thinking one understands, that's all happening in our heads, not in the "real" world. I have found for me, one has to engage in the real world where the other people are doing the same, in order to have a real, full, "complete" life.