#128 - Me, Autism, Mental Health and Running

When I started this podcast the idea was to connect and learn from other runners during the Covid 19 pandemic.

I don’t say this lightly, but the conversation with Blair Wilson @blair_runs in episode 111 changed my life.

I deliberately posted this after mental health awareness week, because every day you should make your physical and mental health a priority.

There are certain areas of my life where I have struggled and as a result my mental health has been impacted. Prior to speaking with Blair I didn’t know the root cause of periods of lower mood.

Listening to him, it was like he was talking about my life in full 4K FHD detail. I just knew. It clicked, I could see how not being aware that I was autistic impacted my mental health upto that point. Fast forward to being officially diagnosed has been so helpful, to changing the narrative of not being enough of xyz, to actually accepting my self for all parts of what I am.

In this conversation I didn’t want to just do a stream of conscious thought that had no context to people who may relate and may want practical advice, about how to take the next best steps. So in this conversation I speak with Psychologist Jo Rodriguez @straightforwardpsychology to have a professional involved to steady the ship.

But we want to give a full disclaimer, this conversation is focused on my personal experience of autism. It is not attempting to speak for the experience of every autistic person, because the autistic spectrum is far and wide and every single autistic person presents differently. There will be people who have more complex needs than myself and we are in no way attempting to speak for those people or tell them how to live their life.

My only aim is to share my experience of discovering autism in my adulthood life and hopefully it can prompt people who may suspect that they are autistic as adults to know what the options are.

For your information I did an assessment and was officially diagnosed by Alongside Autism.

http://www.alongsideautism.co.uk

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Episode 127 of A Runner’s Life podcast is sponsored by Tracksmith, who actively represent and support the development of a runner’s life in the running community.

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