I recognise this is not massively autism related; but it's to do with my struggles with holding onto friendships that can be distressing/emotionally draining because you don't know how to function without them or make new ones. Thought you fellow aspie folk could relate

When I am talking to my friend group, sometimes one of them, brings up radical politics quite a lot. It makes me uncomfortable sometimes. without mentioning the type of politics, it's like they've been arrested by ideas that they haven't materially observed with their own senses.

I just want to be able to hold my own. I want to be compassionate in my understanding of my friend so that I can have these discussions without aggressively alienating him. I want to get along with him. He has good qualities. I want to be his friend. Even though he has sympathies I find distressing snd routinely segues conversations towards these divisive topics when we have so much more we can discuss positively.

But idk why it's so important to be his friend or whatever.

Maybe it's the feeling of needing to cling on to something. If that friend group fails and falls apart then I'm vulnerable. Only my GF to be close to; no way to know how to find like-minded people. Something about making genuine, real friends has gotten harder as an adult. My expectations have gone higher and I don't know why.

Moreover, what does it say about me that I feel that this group anchors me, in the way that my secondary school friends used to anchor me? This is further proof I need to work on myself.