For me, it depends on the individual’s communication style and how well I know them. If I have to put a lot of effort into deciphering what they’re saying or phrasing my words carefully so that they understand me, I’ll tire quickly, whether they’re NT or not. (It’s more common for auties to have communication styles that I find easy to parse, though.) Interacting with most NTs is draining but not badly so, but I also know one or two NTs where interacting with them is actually energizing for me.
I haven’t made any special effort at being normal, though. I’ve focused on finding the best ways to use my strengths, rather than trying to find ways to mitigate my weaknesses.
My natural tendency in social situations is to process things rather thoroughly, which is more work but tends to lead to a better understanding of what’s going on (modulo the fact that some kinds of interactions don’t make sense to me and thus are nearly impossible to integrate into my model). I could, in theory, rearrange my habits so that I was able to interact for longer stretches without getting tired, but at the cost of some of my perceptiveness, and I’m not interested in doing that.
For me, it depends on the individual’s communication style and how well I know them. If I have to put a lot of effort into deciphering what they’re saying or phrasing my words carefully so that they understand me, I’ll tire quickly, whether they’re NT or not. (It’s more common for auties to have communication styles that I find easy to parse, though.) Interacting with most NTs is draining but not badly so, but I also know one or two NTs where interacting with them is actually energizing for me.
I haven’t made any special effort at being normal, though. I’ve focused on finding the best ways to use my strengths, rather than trying to find ways to mitigate my weaknesses.
Could you expand on that?
My natural tendency in social situations is to process things rather thoroughly, which is more work but tends to lead to a better understanding of what’s going on (modulo the fact that some kinds of interactions don’t make sense to me and thus are nearly impossible to integrate into my model). I could, in theory, rearrange my habits so that I was able to interact for longer stretches without getting tired, but at the cost of some of my perceptiveness, and I’m not interested in doing that.