Holiday parties

[Guest guest]

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

I was just wondering if anyone has any tips for handling parties.

I've been eating intuitively for awhile now and I feel like I have a really good

grip on it, but I've been struggling at parties that are centered around food

like Thanksgiving and Halloween parties. I eat what I want and usually feel good

after the initial meal, but as the time wears on and the food is still out, I

pick and nibble and get uncomfortably full. I don't feel guilty or beat myself

up, but it's not pleasant to feel like you swallowed a cinder block.

I'm not comfortable with big group, even my extended family, and I feel like I

kind of get left out of conversations because I'm sort of alone in my age group.

My other female cousins who are close to my age all have babies and I don't, so

they tend to group up and I feel like I don't have much to contribute. My mom

and aunts all hang out together, but I don't feel like I have much to say there

either. I love seeing my family, but crowds overwhelm me and I usually feel like

just going into another room by myself. I worry that this will appear rude or

anti-social, so instead I stay where everyone else is and eat because I don't

feel like I can do much else. It's exhausting to try to fit into a conversation

that has nothing to do with me.

Does anyone else struggle with this?

-McKella