#113 From school burnout to unschooling: reconnecting and building capacity, with Sharon & Heidi in North Yorkshire

I think Heidi and I are quite different in some ways.

So I knew from a young age that my middle child was autistic and PDA and that school might be challenging.

So I, as a now diagnosed autistic adult, went in and went, well, I need to make best friends with everybody.

So I was at the centre.

I was organising the Mums' Nights Out.

I was part of the PTA.

I used to take in gifts to the teachers because I need to get them all on side.

And I think Nat was now looking back a massive form of masking.

And it's a huge relief to not have to do that anymore because we can surround ourselves with people that we like and that just get us from quite similar backgrounds.

And you're not forced, are you? It's not forced friendship with people.

Although these people were lovely, I will say that it was nothing wrong with the people.

It was me and this feeling that I needed to, like I say, get them on side.

Yeah.

I've never felt that.

I've always been a bit of a hermit.

So I'm not really bothered about socialising a lot.

So none of that, none of that applied to me.

Right.

We're all different.

We all want different things and need different things.

So yeah,

that's part of it, isn't it?

Yeah.