After the events in 2019, from the day program failures, to my agressive paternal family, and the issues in home, I started to pinpoint what was going on. But before I realized what toxic relationships really was; I figured it was too little, too late.

In the process of building boundaries, setting expectations, and hoping the other side will get it, I realized there was going to be challenges, such as:

• You’re going to come off flip-flopping, and inconsistent. This is because you’re now setting new goal posts in different locations, so someone will see onto that, but…
• The new boundaries should start to be seen, and be expected. However that’s wishful thinking. A toxic person hates boundaries, because they like to be in control, or get their hands dirty because they have nothing better to do. They want their reassurance, and I am not giving it to them
• Building something 24/7/365 is just taxing. But this is superimposed against the COVID19 epidemic has made this worse. This is because when being destroyed by toxic people (that is taking the hits, accepting cheap shots, hearing the passive-agressive undertones, the lack of something that is critically constructive, such as substance over style.) In the nearly 700 days since the pandemic began, I’ve heard more destructive rhetoric than I have had of something that is constructive 
• The pain of being statically calm and collective (and a bit vulernable). The other problem was the conflicts of when they do occur requires me to be calm, cool and collective and be extremely graceful. When I would hear a cheap shot, a passive agressive statement, attacking on style, extremely defensive on specific matters; not reflecting, not sympathetic, but project optimism by minimizing ones reality. Also spin phrases like “I can’t control how you feel” on the lowest end of emotional infractions; but often reacts without understanding what raw language, unfiltered thoughts could impact the other person in the name of being “real”

As a result, I had struggled to build boundaries, during a pandemic, I have not been able to always be calm cool and collective, and I have been Hoover’d in to cheap shots, blame shifting, scapegoating (to a mild extent), being exposed to projection (and if little) not understanding the sympathy of the people in my life who lack boundaries.

I will say that even though I may had these tendencies, it’s common in autism, but in most cases, someone with ASD will realize there’s a wrong and they’ll try to course correct, but for typical people it is never OK. I want people to know that I have been working extremely hard to be less toxic even if the toxicities was caused by being exposed to the worst egos out there. I’ll be the last to say I am the empath-type.