I hardly recognize the intentions of other people. I often realize too late when people want to take advantage of me or are not well-disposed towards me.
Because of this, I learned to perceive strangers as a danger which is causing me anxiety and stress. This is especially an issue when strangers are approaching me. For some reason I don’t have much issues to approach others myself.
I’m not sure how much of this is related to my autism. Can someone relate to this? Is there anything I can do about this?
I totally relate to that. I got taken advantage of a lot when I was younger and now I just assume that anybody I haven't known for years is out to get me. It's made me very cynical and somewhat bitter. And yet the times I've made a conscious choice to let my walls down and trust someone it's pretty much always ended catastrophically so I don't see any way to change things and be less bitter, because it just doesn't seem to work out when I do.