I've had the same friends for the last 10 years. When we hang out (online) it's a fun time. In the last 1-2 years they've all really gotten into music. They are always talking about it with eachother, going to shows, and doing drugs/drinking heavily at these shows. I'm too autistic for this kind of thing. We're planning on meeting up soon and they're all real excited to do this together. They'll probably try to get me to join them, but I really don't want to. Particularly uncomftarble with using substances since a lot of people in my family have struggled with and died because of addictions. Do I try and become more like them anyways? Do I accept they've changed too much and fade out of their lives? They're the only meaningful connection I have other than my family, so if I lose this I'll probably die alone.
>>34539668>Yes, although you could try telling them about your concerns.I think I will do this when we're all together, but what exactly would I even be trying to get out of it? It's pretty selfish to expect anyone to give up something they enjoy for you, and it's not like they're magically going to become more like me again.>How old are you?I'm 22, so maybe saying I'll die alone is an overreaction. But at some point I forgot to how to make friends or really how to talk to anybody my age who doesn't already know me. When I've been isolated in the past and I started having some pretty dark thoughts. I won't ever kill myself but living like that everyday would be pretty miserable. Maybe it'd force me to go out and try talking to people though, that'd be nice.
>>34539587Meet new people. Don't drop the old circle, but supplement it. Your life should be a Venn diagram of several circles with you in all of them
A lot of addictions have a genetic component, if a lot of your family have struggled it's smart to be concerned about that sort of thing.Like the other anon said you don't need to cut them out completely; in the mean time don't capitulate to pressure you're uncomfortable with, try to find new groups of people to also hang out with.Since you're all pretty young, there's a good chance they'll eventually grow out of doing this anyway.
