Because people on the spectrum are hypervigilant and often have this kind of oversensitive empathy, they actually develop advanced people-reading skills.

I think this contradicts the popular belief about autism — that people on the spectrum can’t read faces or emotions.

I’m sure that applies to some, but the ones who also have Nice Guy Syndrome have actually figured it out.

They know how to read people.

They know how to, at the very least, calculate — based on all the variables in a social situation — how everyone’s probably feeling about everyone else, and everything.

They’re able to make moves based on that information — kind of like playing chess.

Of course, this “performer” or “controller” type can only really connect by being fake,
so they actually feel alone all the time.

They might have a couple of good friends — I was lucky enough to have some real connections — but the problem is, if you’re manipulating people into liking you,
then they don’t actually like you.

They like the thing you’re pretending to be.

So, that thing is having relationships with people while you’re sitting back by yourself, watching it all happen like it’s a movie.

It’s like a movie about you — but you’re not in it.

That’s actually what it feels like.

I’d be at parties, watching myself be liked by all these people…and yet I wasn’t being myself.

I’d be thinking:

“Yeah… they wouldn’t like this guy.

They like that guy — the guy I pretend to be.

But this guy? Fuck that. Hate him. So they’re not gonna meet him.”

To dive deeper into this topic, check out the original video here:

https://youtu.be/OB1zlVKAkE8

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