Coping with New Environments

As of writing this blog, I am currently in Scotland. This is somewhere I have never been before, let alone stayed in, and thus, everything feels alien to me. The reason I feel like this is because my normal routine has changed and everything is completely different.

This is not uncommon for people like me to feel uncomfortable in a new environment as we're so used to our normal area. So when we go somewhere new to meet new people, we naturally feel nervous as all sorts of things rush through our heads. Is this place dangerous? Are the people nice? What is in this place? Etc. 

It also didn't help that I had quite possibly the longest car journey in my life! It was a 9 hour journey from the South West of England to Scotland complete with hour long delays and service station visits. Everything felt too much and it was a miracle that I managed to cope.

So what made Scotland more nerve-wracking than say Disneyland Paris (which I went to a few weeks ago)? My theory is familiarity. In Disneyland, I practically had all of my immediate family with me so there were a few people I knew. That and the fact that it was Disneyland made the trip more comfortable... even though I felt relieved to be back in England. With Scotland, it was only one family member. The others I didn't know so well so it was more difficult to connect with them as opposed to my family which I've had years to connect with. That and Scotland is cold.

I kind of feel glad I went to university open days because I had time to acclimatise to what is possibly my future home which is good since for a while, I will be the only person I know. In time I know I will get used to new environments but the initial shock is still quite daunting.

How can you help people like me? - If you notice them feeling uncomfortable in a new environment, talk to them. Give them that familiarity that they need so they can connect with their new environment better. Help them get to know the new people so that they can feel familiar with them as well. When it's the case where they are on their own, check on them to see if they have settled in via phone calls and social network sites. It is also noteworthy to tell the new people that they have autism (provided that the person with autism is comfortable with it) then they will hopefully understand and act appropriately.

And that concludes this thought from an autistic mind. What do you think about this? Let me know in the comments below, be sure to like my Facebook page 'Joel Mole' for more blogs and share this around to spread the word. Thank you for reading this and until the next time: fare thee well!