So, I’m autistic and don’t handle loud music well.
Well, this past Saturday, a very special friend of mine (who also happens to be a guy I really ‘like like’) invited me to join him and go to an outdoor costume rave. It sounded fun and I’ll take most excuses to hang out with him some more.
I wore some noise canceling earbuds to the rave, which helped with most of the loudness, and had an honest to god amazing time.. and it was great.. anytime it got a little overwhelming or overstimulating for me, he’d walk with me away from the music and take a break with me until I felt okay again and then we’d walk back to the music together.
I’m so glad I chose to step outside of my comfort zone and go. It was so much fun, and I feel so safe enough with him that my anxiety and related conditions/effects mostly left me alone for the whole duration of the race.
He even thanked me the next day for going with him saying “because I joined/went to something that meant a lot to him, even though was it out my comfort zone… that he wants to reciprocate that and join me for something that’s important to me”
Anyway, had lots of fun. 9.5/10, would go with him again for sure.
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Also, at the rave there was a few LARP quests and we worked together to complete them and each got to pick a prize. He got a Shy Guy (from Super Mario) plushie and I got a Rainbow Dash (from My Little Pony) plushie.
The rave took place underneath a highway that runs through town. So on top of projecting funky imagery onto a suspended screen, the organizers also projected some imagery onto the walls and underside of the overpass on highway we were under too.
