There is no thinking normally, there is only different thinking and once that clicks people become a bit easier. The trick, I have found, is not to concentrate too much on how different you are, or to dwell on what other people might think about you. The trick is to be yourself in all its weird glory and be fine with it. People like people (and Penguins) who are happy being themselves and saying exactly what they think.

There are mechanisms that can help with making friends but most people don't know them. Friendships are difficult for people with autism because they're often looking for rule based advice and the rules seemingly change around them and vary from person to person, situation to situation and sometimes minute to minute. Human interactions are infinitely complicated because the brain is the single most complicated thing on the planet and having two of them together doesn't make things easier. It's simple but not easy.

I found the following video was quite useful for an autistic friend of mine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9hJ_Rux9y0&t=689s