"Complete Exhaustion After Socialising?"

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Today we saw the homeschooling family near us again, after a gap of three weeks because of holidays etc.

They invited a few family and made a small party ( 15 of us in total, of whom 5 were children) of it, because tomorrow is their little boy's seventh birthday.

We arrived at noon, and left at 5pm / 17.00 , and I am utterly and completely exhausted. I hardly did anything. I stood by the river at botttom of the garden they are currently yurting/camping in for a while, and chit chatted with the mother who I now know somewhat, and like. And ate, and waited on events, and ate some more, and wiped up messes on a couple of occasions, and sat, and listened , and watched, and smiled and waited some more.

I feel as if someone gave me a very strong sleeping pill but made me stay awake.

And I also recognise the feeling as a far more intense and crashing version of what I was getting in small doses the last few days starting to play a new MMORPG, learning the controls, learning to look at the right things, learning to notice the messages and functions etc, learning how to get around, and what to do next.

They are very nice this family, and my son and their's get on very well, which is lovely, but after about an hour and a half I grind to a standstill; have trouble with almost everything. Anyone else get this kind of wrecked feeling?

I can see why and how i came to use coffee, cigarettes, alcohol, and sugar so heavily for 10+ years, because I really would need every stimulant available in polite society to deal with this on a daily basis.

PS: It's taken me 4 hours to recover sufficiently to even manage a post on here. I was zombified out on my bed for over an hour.

I can definitely relate!!

Yep, like being run over by a steamroller.

On days like that I am surprised I remember my name after a few hours...it's like everything starts to shut down.

The next day I can still be wiped out somewhat.

Been there,done that ouinon.

Yes, social interaction (even online, to a lesser extent) exhausts me.

Sometimes I wish I liked alcohol, then maybe I'd feel more up to it.

I have less of that than I did years ago.

I find sharing living space with others to be just as exhausting, but on a chronic level.

You are not alone!

After any kind of social interacting, I need time alone and quiet. I feel as if I could sleep.

Five hours in one place is too long! I usually limit my social activities to 1 or 2 hours at a time.

I would too, but i don't drive and anyway we have only one car, the house was 25 km away from home in inaccessible countryside , and my son was having a lovely time playing with the other boy.

After an hour and a half the meal hadn't even started yet! This is France; they spend the whole afternoon eating.

Even my saying I was leaving at 4.30 pm caused a stir; the hostess suddenly had to hurry up a festivity of sweet-hunting for the children before we could go, half an hour later.

Last edited by ouinon on 20 Apr 2008, 4:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Good point, Ouinon: Even positive social interaction can be overwhelming and cause us to shut down. After prolonged socializing, I need to calm my mind with music or computer games before I can think straight or go to sleep.
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"'Autism' is simply an internal human 'normality' with the volume turned up." Donna Williams

Yes, that is exactly how I feel in a lot of social situations and afterwards!

Yes, I feel that quite often... However, yesterday I had a nice time with a group of people on Earth Day -- they are very "down to earth" and not too judgemental either... just a nice group of people...

Today, I just wanted to go to the back of my apartment building to take out a bag of trash and get something out of my car.. As I left the apt. I wondered for a moment what I look liked.. as I was in the long sweat pants I had worn to bed, a long t-shirt and actually had just thrown on a pair of red socks! ha!! not exactly dressed for any type of public encounter...

WELL, wouldn't you know it, just as I'm wanting to just run out of my car with a bag of trash, my neighbor pulls up in a car with like FIVE people in it and they stop right in front of me and all watch and wait while I dump the little bag of trash in the dumpster.. naturally, they are ALL dressed up for the weekend and just stare.... OUCH!! ! I can't even run out of the house for a second without some negative social encounter... I probably sneered at them as I hurridly (sp?) dumped the bag in the trash... like... don't wait on me, DRIVE on past!! ! kindof look and then they could easily see me get the item out of my truck and go back in... probably laughing at what a shrew I am...

Yesterday, was a really good day though... I'm going to try and dwell on that!

They probably weren't even looking at you, or if they were, they probably weren't making fun of you.