[Evaluna]

I got invited to a meal with one of my work colleagues and while I kept putting off replying I ended up leaving it too late and I had to go. I desperately wanted to back out and stay home but I've done it a lot and I thought that I had to show my face.

It was the worst. There were 13 of us round the table and guess who was the one not in a pair having a conversation? It was such hard work to plaster a smile on my face and pretend I was OK. People were drinking and I didn't feel like it, but because in the past when I've felt able to cope better they know I like a drink on a night out. All that happened was it made me exceptionally tired.

A few of us got a lift with someone else so we had to wait until they were ready before we could leave. I just hated every single second of it. I've not left the house at all today and have avoided contact with everyone. I used to be such a sociable person and now people don't understand why I can't be that person.

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[dexter]

I usually love company holiday parties even though I am alone but this year I couldn't drag my self there, couldn't handle being with a group of people, and I'm still getting flack for it.

[barbella]

Sounds like a really awful experience. I wish people would realize it's a social function and make conversation with *everyone* & not just the person they showed up with. They were being thoughtless.

[dexter]

That and also I wish people would realize that when I can't come it isn't always about them, why can't they simply respect that my decision is necessary for my own well being.

[cryingontheinside]

I hate social gatherings too. Sad hug

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[al-bait]

I've been there. My friends always got angry and told me to stop making "my annoying face" whenever we hang out. They said I have a signature face expression that I usually made after several hours of outing. The truth is, it's my not-smiling face, my natural being. I'm a mixed blood child of Chinese and Malay. Stern face is what I have. I don't have sweet face like people who seems like smiling eventhough they're not. And I wasn't even angry. I was just awfully tired. I'm an extreme introvert, I could stand not going out for 3 months. Socializing depletes my energy. Going out is like going to war. I need to prepare physically and mentally. Sometimes, I got fed up with my friends saying the same thing about my annoying face over and over again. To shut them out, I just say that i'll go for plastic surgery to fix my annoying face that annoyed them so much. When I explained that I was tired, they rejected the whole idea and said they're tired as well but doing fine. I try my level best to cope with most of my extrovert friends. They don't even try to be in my shoes. And now, i'm happy to live far away that we could just hang out for once or twice a year.

Sometimes just getting through each day requires almost superhuman strength ~ Excerpt from After You by Jojo Moyes