My Friends Festival Birthday Party

[TheNonchalante]

I've decided to just ask away from now on, since it helps to get answers and reassurance

OK. So, for my friends birthday at the end of April she is going to a festival, like the ones with tents and portaloos. Most people will already know where I'm going with this...
I don't want to go! And obviously I can just say that, but she asked a while ago and I said yes, but the emet has gotten worse since then. She's also one of those people who doesn't easily... Understand. And she has gotten annoyed at me a few times before because of my emet and Aspergers, even though I really can't help it... It totally stresses me out when she gets like that so I don't know what to do...
I'm totally petrified to go to the festival because of all the germs and alcohol and confined spaces and crowds and just the whole experience of it that I'm sure many of you understand.
PLEASE! Any advice is welcome and appreciated!

(Extra details: We are both 15, female, I have Aspergers - which I think has something to do with this, she is very confident and 'blunt', and often upsets me without realising.)
If you want to know anything else just say :P

[HEH18]

I say go The more we emets give in to our fear, the greater that fear gets in our lives. As fear inducing as it can be to push yourself by going, I truly think you'll end up enjoying yourself Remember- you can avoid any possibility of becoming ill by simply washing hands or not touching your face. This is a great way to show your friend you care, and also to give emet the finger.

That being said, I am totally sympathetic to the amount of stress the idea is going to cause. I just truly believe that the more we allow emet to dictate what we do, the worse it's going to get-- this is something that my therapist has confirmed. She mentioned how it's that way with phobias AND OCD- the more you allow the fear to dictate the behaviour, the worse the fear gets, even though in that moment you feel better by doing what the fear is telling you to do. It's a very temporary relief when we obey the fear. Whereas, when we challenge the fear by not obeying what it's telling us to do, over time it actually lessens the hold it has on us! I have discovered this in the past year, it's been a HUGE change.

Anyways, that's my encouragement to you! You can do this!!

[chris_alice]

I encourage you to at least make the effort to go and after you've been there for a while, if it really becomes too much to endure, make an exuse to leave - say you're feeling really sick. She'll be happy you made the effort and you won't have completely given in to your fear.

[cycle]

I've gone to several of these, and you should defs go! Its loads of fun and surprisingly people make an effort to be clean, like everyone who i see at them uses hand sanitizer and stuff after using the bathroom. You'll be outside so there aren't that many 'surfaces' to leave germs on. I say give it a try....I bet you'll enjoy it more than you expect