Teresa is in her early 20s and looking forward to blogging about her journey with newly diagnosed autism. Within the past few years, she’s had to rebuild her entire life from scratch and navigate everything very differently. She recently had the opportunity to job shadow at different locations and has been inspired to attend college and one day work with children. Teresa is eager for this new chapter in her life and wants to inspire others with autism to never give up, despite whatever obstacles life may throw their way.
View all postsWhat I Learned In 2025
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Since it is now 2026, I decided to write a blog about what I experienced and learned from 2025. I want to start off by saying that 2025 was a really transformative year for me. I started the year off in a group home that I would soon be leaving so that I could live independently. I was doing all the hard work to make it happen. I was learning new recipes and making them at the group home. I learned all the meds I was taking so that I could self-administer them instead of relying on group home staff to give them to me. I also had unsupervised community time which meant I could go out and hang with a friend or my boyfriend without staff being present. I now live with my boyfriend and things have been pretty great!
Since moving in with my boyfriend, I have also become my own payee! Though I will admit, I love to shop (especially online). Budgeting and saving my money is something I am working on and want to continue to work on in the new year, especially now that I help pay rent with my boyfriend in my new home and also need to prioritize things like buying groceries.
Because I also live in a new area, something else I’m working on is getting myself out there and going to different events or looking into different programs so that I can meet people and hopefully make some friends. Something I recently got into is volunteering for a local cat rescue organization where I clean the kennels and socialize with the cats. It’s still new but I am very excited about it. And since 2025 was a bit of a struggle for me with looking for jobs, at the moment I feel comfortable with keeping up with my blog and doing some volunteer work. And who knows? Maybe in the future I’ll feel ready to find a new job.
I want to end this blog by saying that overall, 2025 was a pretty good year. I learned so much and it has brought me so many blessings. I’m very excited to see what 2026 has in store for me. I will continue to learn more life skills, get out into the community, and always advocate for myself and others. As always, I hope you enjoyed this blog, and I will see you in the next one. Happy New Year!
Teresa Cardona
