Crippling fear just walking down the street

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I am sure many can relate. I live on a busy suburban street and I wanted to push myself today by walking down the street and by a busy park. It's like bunjee jumping with the amount of fear. I'm blind to social cues but I have to try so I don't isolate myself. Any ideas on how to feel more at ease walking around my house? I want to work up to meeting more of my neighbors in case I need to get in touch with someone.

Thank you,

Blue Thunder

I might not be able to help you because I am a fearless Aspie. I am an extreme introvert and I am happy being an introvert. My wife is an extreme extrovert and she is happy being an extrovert. It is important for me to allow her to be the best extrovert she can be. If I lock her away in a house and restrict her from developing new friendships, I will break her. So it is important for me to encourage and expand her social network. When we moved into a new housing development, none of our new neighbors came by for a visit. I could see that they were all waiting for someone else to break the ice. So when I got home from work each day I would take my wife in tow and walk over to a neighbor and knock on their door and introduce us and invite them over for a cup of coffee. About half of our neighbors were glad to meet us and they immediately invited us in for a chat. They became instant friends. This may sound like a strange thing for an introvert to do. But I am fearless but my wife is not and besides I didn’t really need to socialize, I just needed to introduce ourselves and then stand back and let my wife do all the talking.

So I guess what I am suggesting is find an extrovert who is willing to help you and then the two of you go and meet the neighbors.

Go to nextdoor.com and see if they have that for your location.

It's kind of like a facebook for neighborhoods. You can familiarize yourself with neighborhood doings, like someone lost a cat, and someone else is having a yard sale. Go to the yard sale and say you saw it on nextdoor.com.

I have crippling fear walking down the street too, but it's different than yours. I am literally physically crippled and would have to walk using a walker. A person could knock me over with a feather, then grab my purse. (Or beat me up, if that is what pleased them)

Going for a walk around your neighborhood gives you an opportunity to wave, nod your head, say hello, and compliment people's dog, their landscaping, or their adorable baby in the stroller. If there is a beautiful sunset or splendid weather, you can inoffensively say so, and it might start a conversation.

I hope this helps. I might not understand where you are coming from.

I found sunglasses and an mp3 player on full blast helped me get outside

I also have a crippling fear of walking down the street, but it's got nothing to do with autism. I'm transgender. I don't know what people are or aren't going call me in terms of pronouns. I get out and walk to my destinations, anyways. I can't stay home all the time.

Basically, your wife is your social crutch. Nothing wrong with that, but "fearless" might not be the most accurate term regarding your ability to socialize.


Nothing wrong with this. But if you were single, would you do these things? Would you even feel the need to do these things? You do them both FOR and WITH your wife.