Published on 12, July, 2020
My first post and I'm hoping to get some help from you good (and more experienced) people.
I'm due to go to a festival soon which I'm dreading. No, not a music festival, nothing so cool. There'll be a lot of people there and a lot of stalls to see. I'll do as I always do with such events - go very early to be at the head of the queue to get in, whizz round the place at stop speed grabbing anything that interests me and trying not to have to talk to anyone, then exit as fast as possible before it gets any busier and before my panic attack becomes too noticeable.
My tactics are those of a terrified child and I'd like to find some better ways to deal with such situations. Does anyone have any tips or ideas on how to make the event less stressful for myself (and others, come to that)? I should mention that I've tried mindfulness methods and they don't work for me. Any help gratefully received as I'm dreading this event.
I experience the same I tend to just avoid all together but if I really must go earplugs are essential to drown out all the noise, so much noise at these places, also I have things in my pockets to fiddle with, like a finger spinner, a soft toy or some marbles and always somethings to eat and drink to distract me from all the people around me. Sunglasses and a baseball also help to avoid all eye contact as it’s the eye contact generally that attracts people to conversation. And if all this fails a t shirt with I’m autistic now f**k off does the trick... hope this helps and good luck
Thank you. I love the idea of the tshirt. I'd not thought of having something like a fidget spinner to dieflect my stress so I appreciate that idea. I'll make sure my mp3 is fully charged, too, as I use that instead of earplugs.