How well do you do in crowds especially disorganised crowds?

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Last week I did a bit of travelling up the country and spent a few days away with some friends.

I love travelling, well, the actual bit in the vehicle whether plane or train. When I’m moving.

Last week I travelled from Chatham Kent to Birmingham by train which means stopping in London.

I find the crowds in London Train Stations so disorganised and stressful that you end up so overwhelmed by it that I just want to go through quick and get out the crowd and have some space very quickly.

When in a crowd like that I can feel the people in the crowd as if they are closer to me than they actually are.

How well do you work in a disorganised crowd like that?

Not well at all. I've almost given up going into many town centres on Saturdays because of all the people, noise and frenzied activity. It's become a lot worse recently because of the proliferation of beggars, buskers and street 'entertainers'.

I like malls, but Walmart is a whole other story. People are complete morons in the store and in the parking lot.

Constant noise, especially multiple clashing noises makes me uneasy. When I was younger it could make me feel dizzy/strange and I left class a few times because of it. I think it's an anxiety thing probably.

I think I can do reasonably well in crowds, but I can also see evidence in my life that I prefer to not have them.

The example that comes to mind right now is grocery shopping. I usually go grocery shopping in a relatively small grocery store that's within walking distance of where I live, and I would say I almost (but not quite) enjoy the experience.

On occasion, I have to go to a bigger grocery store that's a bit further away. It's big and crowded, and I'm amazed by how much less enjoyable I find it. I don't have any trouble doing it, but it turns grocery shopping from something that I almost (but not quite) enjoy into a big chore.

If I always went to the bigger grocery store, I probably wouldn't even think anything of it. It would be a big chore, but I would do it just fine and I wouldn't even think it had anything to do with the crowds because I wouldn't have anything to compare with.

But because I know exactly what it's like to do grocery shopping in the two grocery stores, I think I can pretty clearly say that it's because I prefer to do grocery shopping without big crowds.

I don't mind crowds if I'm at an outdoor event like a country fair with plenty of space to move around.

Crowded shopping centres are anxiety fuel for me. Children make everywhere seem 10 times more hectic than it really is, because of their noise, unpredictability and lack of motor skills (yes, children under about 8 seem to just walk into you or they suddenly jump or run without thinking that there are other people around).

One time I was walking in an extremely crowded shopping mall, and there were so many people that it was like being at a crowded concert. I was caught right in the middle of a huge crowd of about 100 people or more, all going the same way, and the people behind were pushing and stepping on the backs of my shoes and the people in front were slow, and I thought I was going to fall and get trampled on. It was no special day, just an ordinary Saturday, but there's just so many people for such a small country, that everywhere just gets overcrowded.
I think that has put me off going shopping on Saturdays.

I don't like em especially if I cant figure out where the line is or what line to get into or where something is I need or I cant get where I want to go cuz of all the people. I handle it OK for the most part thou I may feel anxious.

Crowds stress me out, but I can be in them and survive. Although it isn't fun. It tends to bother me more that I am in close proximity to people and might bump into them than the noise bothers me, but both can be stressful.

Crowds are really terrible for me, too much information to be processed and it can easily overwhelm me and cause a sensory overload, especially if people accidentally touch me when they pass by + noises + lights etc., 3 senses being involved here, plus all the things you have to do while there, it's just too much information for me to process and it's overwhelming.

That's why I'd never live in big cities and right now I'm lucky that I'm in a small rural town.

Might be a bit away from the subject but something I notice in the UK especially when there is a heatwave. Which there is at the moment. That is how when walking through the town how people seem to lose there sense of direction I find that very irritating. Don’t know whether anyone else on here find that just as irritating.

I like to pretend that I'm okay with crowds, but after dealing with it for about an hour, I'm ready to go home and have a nice lie down.

I know some of my friends have too much anxiety to even think about crowded places.

Sometimes, REALLY BIG crowds are actually better than smaller crowds or gatherings. Bear with me. In smaller crowds, there are enough people to make me feel uncomfortable, but not enough people for me to blend in. In other words, I stick out like a sore thumb.

In really big crowds, there are so many people around and so much going on and so much preoccupation, that I don't come across as the weirdo. I'm just sort of there.

I live between New York City and Philadelphia. Though I don't go often enough to either, in those really big crowds I tend to go completely unnoticed, which is a positive for me.

Asher helps a lot, he creates like a little bubble of space around me. Without him I'm lost, I get confused and light touch hurts, so I avoid entering crowds and if I cannot help it, I likely end up in meltdown.

Yay for Asher!