Finally Finding the Missing Piece

Discovering that I’m autistic as well as ADHD and 2eGifted has been like finding that long-lost puzzle piece that finally completes the picture of who I am. For more than 60 years, I’ve carried an unshakable sense that something was missing—like I was navigating life without the full manual.
The best way I can describe it is this: it’s like suddenly realising the reason I could never “run on Windows” was because I’m actually a Mac. I was built differently, but beautifully, and that difference was never the flaw I believed it to be.
This discovery hasn’t erased the struggles, but it has changed how I see them. I look back at the child I once was—the misunderstood little girl who tried so hard to fit in, who believed she had to be like everyone else—and my heart aches for her. She carried the weight of feeling “wrong” for so long. Today, I want her to know: you have been heard.
We are free now. Free to just be. Free to embrace the wonderful, unique person we were always meant to be.
Of course, the journey hasn’t been without scars. Along the way, I’ve gathered CPTSD, Fibromyalgia, ME/CFS and anxiety. These challenges are part of my story, but they no longer define it. I’ve adapted, learned, surrendered, and risen again, time and time over the decades.
This late diagnosis doesn’t make those years wasted. It gives them meaning. It allows me to honour my younger self for surviving in a world that never fully understood her. Now, together, we can move forward—healing, thriving, and living authentically as the person we were born to be.

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