Page 1 of 1 [ 3 posts ] 

diniesaur
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Sep 2011
Age: 30
Gender: Male
Posts: 758
Location: in the Ministry of Silly Walks

12 Sep 2012, 11:48 am

I've just met a bunch of new people/potential friends at my new college. I felt more comfortable initially because two of my old friends were there and introduced me to them, and I'm already an extroverted Autistic person (can you believe it?) so I started talking to a bunch of them and I like them and they might like me. But now I'm having the biggest social shutdown ever--and I'm at school right now! There are so many people who I've started talking to, and now I'm terrified of all of them. I'm getting sensory problems and things right now, and other people are noticing. I'm trying to explain it to them, but I have no idea what I should do to deal with the shutdown and make it go away faster. I feel guilty, and I also want to go back to having fun. What do I do?



izzeme
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 4 Apr 2011
Age: 37
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,665

12 Sep 2012, 1:31 pm

take a break; get away from social and sensory input as fast as you can and retreat into yourself.

if you cant go home just yet, for whatever reason, i recommend going to the toilet for a bit. take a cubicle and just sit there for a few minutes untill you feel better, noone will think of that as weird; everyone goes to the toilet on occasion, and when you are there, noone tries to talk to someone else (well, not on a mans toilet at least)



diniesaur
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 2 Sep 2011
Age: 30
Gender: Male
Posts: 758
Location: in the Ministry of Silly Walks

12 Sep 2012, 5:32 pm

Thanks! I'm at home now, but I'll have to go back tomorrow and it will probably be crazy again...at least they're understading, but I avoid the bathroom because of other reasons--I have a problem where I throw up in order to relieve stress, but apparently that's not healthy, so if I go there 1) I'll be more tempted to throw up and 2) even if I don't my friends who I already have might think I'm doing it anyway.

I do think that the getting away is a good idea, though; I hadn't thought of it. I'm at a college, so I wonder if I could find an empty classroom and hide under a desk for a while?