Anyone struggle with maintaining professional relationships?

I 30f am an amft and was diagnosed with autism last year (most likely also adhd but was told I needed further eval) and realized how burnt out/depressed/sick I was and how not working for almost a couple years was needed. But then I also got sick a month after my diagnosis and now have been on the chronic illness journey for almost a year now with POTS, fibromyalgia, occipital neuralgia, HSD etc etc etc also being on my diagnosis list.

I’m starting to feel a bit more consistent with a bit more energy and have been semi applying to part time positions/volunteer positions but am realizing my struggles with social relationships are showing up again. I always have had a hard time with references for jobs and knowing who to put down and when I’ve talked with other neurotypical therapists they talk about how they’ve maintained many professional relationships for years and how easy it is. I just always feel like if I haven’t reached out for some time I might be breaking some “social rule” to reach out out of nowhere to ask them to be a reference for jobs etc. and how to go about it. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced something similar? I’m seeing a neurodivergent therapist and am going to try and work through this but just wanted to see if anyone had any thoughts about it?