What advice would you give your younger self?

I don't know exactly what advice I could give to my younger self. Maybe just don't feel "wrong" or "inadequate" for how I was, and to think conversely: considering my alleged disadvantages like potentialities. And to understand so many natural laws and to resign myself about so many things more quickly than I actually did, so as not to bite my hands today because all the time I wasted. I remember that when I was child, I was very scared by people who seemed like the person I am nowadays, because, in a certain way, I already felt I was prone to an unconventional social life; so, I fought for so long against my true inclinations. In my adolescence I often pretended others habits, but, inevitably, I always came out clumsy.

OMG good question.

College major: Comparative Lit and Film Studies. WTF were you thinking.
CHANGE MAJOR to Pysch Mental Health Counselor OR Academic Counseling
OR really go to FILM SCHOOL> GEEZ!

Stop hating your biological mom. I mean it! Dammit stop it!!
Don't trust Aunt Mae
Don't trust Ashley, your sister, she means to harm you

Advice...Look kid you are 16 and you tried to kill yourself -true you called the pharmacy and asked if nitroglycerin was harmful and they said it was fatal. You failed. The best way to safely die is by drowning so drive to the ocean and swim out too far.

Reynolds wrote:I was not diagnosed as SPD until my late 50s and although I am a well-adjusted, covert schizoid it would have helped me immensely to have understood my nature as a young man, even as a teen or boy. I would have said:

"Stop trying so hard to fit it, to be what is not your nature. You are not a people-person, so stop buying into the lie that you need to be one or you will never be happy. For most people being alone is a weakness they cannot endure but for you it is a strength--embrace it and nurture it because it is your super power but kryptonite to most others. Understand your shortcomings but don't allow others to label them as character flaws. To be unambitious is not a sin, but ultimately you will do well to find a job or career where you can work alone as much as possible because you are water and people are oil--you don't mix well. Accept yourself for who you are and learn to be content. Roll with the punches for this too shall pass."

Great post! I would definitely have to agree with this.

In high school I was made fun of, and thought that if I was "cooler looking" it would stop. So, I would tell myself to stop trying to be like "cool" people. Your attempts are only going to look awkward. Just keep being yourself and embrace your introversion. It is fine to be yourself and if others don't like you for it, then screw them. Half the people you know suck anyway, so why impress them? Just be yourself, you aren't going to see them again in a few years anyway. Oh yeah, those teachers that just think you are lazy...and the guidance counselor that thinks you aren't going to do well in college, they are wrong! You are going to do a lot better in college, you will actually learn there and it will be better than the junk you are being taught here. And on the topic of college, go ahead an major in art. You like it and honestly will have a better chance of doing something with it rather than the degree you will end up with if you don't.

Edit: And don't argue so much with Dad. Talk to him more, get to know about him more. It isn't like your parents are divorced and you never see him, you live with him and your mom, yet you talk to and know more about your mom 100 times more than dad. I know you are weird and awkward, just do it anyway. He loves you and doesn't care that you are weird, he probably wishes you'd talk to him more too, but like you, he is also the quiet type. And again, don't argue with him, he is set in his ways and you won't change his mind. Just agree to disagree. When he dies, you will regret not doing these things.

NiteOwl wrote:And again, don't argue with him, he is set in his ways and you won't change his mind. Just agree to disagree. When he dies, you will regret not doing these things.

This is a lesson that so many of us don't learn until it's too late. At age 64 I've had lots of regrets, but there's nothing I can do other than learn from them to keep from repeating them. I allow myself to feel bad about the regrets for awhile, then I let them go.
(I know that it may come as a surprise to some, but not everyone who is a schizoid is an unfeeling block of ice that cares nothing for anybody or anything.)

Reynolds wrote:

NiteOwl wrote:And again, don't argue with him, he is set in his ways and you won't change his mind. Just agree to disagree. When he dies, you will regret not doing these things.

This is a lesson that so many of us don't learn until it's too late. At age 64 I've had lots of regrets, but there's nothing I can do other than learn from them to keep from repeating them. I allow myself to feel bad about the regrets for awhile, then I let them go.
(I know that it may come as a surprise to some, but not everyone who is a schizoid is an unfeeling block of ice that cares nothing for anybody or anything.)

Yeah, I eventually let it go. As you said, I can't change it, but I can learn from it. I'm with you on the not all schizoids are a block of ice. I truly do care about some people and things. I love my mom more than anything in the world. I love my pets. I think some people just read us wrong because of the way we show emotion. I've had it happen many times because my speech is pretty flat unless I have a strong feeling about the subject.

NiteOwl wrote: I think some people just read us wrong because of the way we show emotion. I've had it happen many times because my speech is pretty flat unless I have a strong feeling about the subject.

Yes, sometimes people read us wrong and sometimes we read them wrong. We don't need to be a fireball of empathy to just consider sometimes with people, "what if that were me?" I considered that when I worked as a janitor at the Salvation Army homeless shelter. No, I wasn't a caseworker and I couldn't do great things for them, but there were little things I could do that cost me nothing and in no way diminished my schizoidness. Actions do speak louder than words.

At the SA we used to herd everyone out of the common areas late in the morning after breakfast but before lunch so we could clean. One day the last one out the door was this old guy (who I found out was 2 years younger than me but life on the streets ages you) named Popeye who slept out on the benches. I don't know why, but I motioned for him to come back in as I locked the door and shushed him. I took him back to a small room off the gym that had washers and dryers they could use and there was a thick mat in there and I told him he could sack out there for a few hours. I guess I realized that for him being able to sleep in a room that had a door that locked behind him was worth a lot and cost me nothing. I'm glad I recognized the opportunity and didn't let it pass.
I guess I reckoned, "what would I have liked someone to do if that was me?"