I Overcame My Autism and All I Got Was This Lousy Anxiety Disorder: A Memoir

Autistic people are often told and shown that our success in society will be measured by how much we manage to hide our autism and pretend to be neurotypical. Sarah Kurchak, growing up with undiagnosed autism, learned this lesson for herself at an early age, devoting her early life to changing everything about herself from her personality to her body language to her clothing choices in order to fit in. She was great at passing, but at the cost of chronic anxiety and depression. After being diagnosed in her late twenties, she started to undo the tangled knots that she'd created and seek new ways to live a good life and find community while also being true to herself. Along the way we learn about her life, family, love, substance use, and her career paths as a writer and a professional pillow fighter.