Maybe you carry a quiet confession: some fictional characters make you feel less alone than most real people do.
You can be in a room full of friends, family, or coworkers and still feel like you’re watching everyone through glass. Then you open a certain book, or put on a show for the ninth time, and the loneliness eases. You’re in the company of someone who thinks the way you think, notices what you notice, and feels things at the volume you feel them. Nobody needs you to turn it down.
You know they are ink, pixels, and an actor’s careful choices. The relief is real anyway.
If your brain is autistic, ADHD, gifted, or some tangled mix of all three, this is for you. What you feel makes sense. It’s a sensible response to a very particular kind of loneliness.
Neurocomplex loneliness
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