I thought God just wanted me to spread his word … I was wrong

Summary

Cydney Michelle explains that she once thought her calling was simply to share Bible teachings. After learning she is autistic (level two) and reflecting on her experiences with mood disorders, psychosis, depression, and executive dysfunction, she came to see her strength as interpretation: making ideas understandable and useful in everyday life.

She describes how masking—pushing herself to appear okay and avoid affecting others—can leave her depleted for weeks. She wants relationships to become more mutual: she takes responsibility for her actions, but also needs others to understand her needs and offer accommodations rather than expecting her to do all the adapting.

Faith remains central to her approach. She says reading the Bible helped her understand herself, and she wants to connect its teachings with practical, day-to-day challenges rather than treating spiritual advice and lived experience as separate.

Key Strategies and Takeaways

• Break tasks into concrete steps. A task such as doing laundry may feel like several separate actions, so she writes each step on her to-do list.
• Recognize mental load. Unfinished steps can feel like “open tabs” that keep occupying attention and draining energy.
• Avoid overextending to mask difficulties. Constantly pushing through or hiding how she feels can lead to exhaustion and harder days later.
• Make accommodations a two-way street. Close relationships may require communicating needs and asking others to make reasonable adjustments too.
• Work one step at a time. She plans to keep her content workload manageable, noting that adding more tasks makes it harder for her to start.
• Make information practical and accessible. She aims to explain concepts in ways that connect with people’s daily lives, relationships, bodies, and experiences.
• Explore topics through a faith-informed lens. She plans to discuss neurodivergence, mood, relationships, body and weight, food, hair care, and other topics alongside Bible study.

She intends to post longer videos on YouTube and short excerpts on TikTok.

Presenter/source: Cydney Michelle.