Published on 12, July, 2020
Gt granddaughter is 1 today. She's having a party tomorrow. I'm going but am dreading it. The whole socialising thing outside of immediate family/stepfamily is so damn hard . Initiating conversations a no no, body posture - am I looking gone out/like a freak? , sitting their in awkward silence while the conversation flows around me .
Borrowed from aspergers100.com
Here are a few basics to help you in social situations:
An excellent checklist of do's and don't.
But knowing what to do and actually doing it. Are very different skills and abilities.
I still avoid social situations. I have learnt how to function ok in well structured encounters such as shopping, short meetings with people I recognise. But open ended parties terrify me.
Very true.... bottom line.. socialising is hard because it involves other people who don’t necessarily know each other, like each other, or share similar outlooks or wiring.., it’s a very unnatural construct.... :)
I'll confess to being scared too. I'm going because I think it's expected of me. My granddaughter who is taking me has said I can ask to go home when I need to. The thing is balancing what would be an acceptable time to be there with avoiding becoming too stressed. I do think the advice to people not on the spectrum to tell others the person they know is on ,or probably on, the spectrum is good (Prepare your other NT friends for your aspie friend)