anyone else purely exhausted from visiting family?

I am. I have to visit my sister's family soon, and that would be exhausting. And they are pretty toxic bunch. Fanatics of current "president", very racist, misogynistic and homophobic, they can't just shut up about that stuff. Also my sister's mood often swings wildly and affects her behavior greatly. Like everything seems to be ok, but next moment she starts raging over a simple things. They also have a kid, and while he's well behaved, he's still noisy. I understand that it's normal for 4 year old to act like this, but I get exhausted fast since I have sensory issues, mainly with sound. I have to do it because of my mother. She wants to see her grandchild, and since she has disability, she can't go alone.
You aren't alone and you are not some kind of "weakling" because you have trouble dealing with this. It's like video game modes, if you are HSP, you "play" on higher difficulty than others. And while you struggle where others aren't, it doesn't mean that you are "bad player", it's that "game" conditions are harsher for us than it's for other people.
This is what helps me to survive these visits. I never argue with relatives. I don't always agree though, if theme is particularly touchy, I show lack of interest/knowledge on subject. Usually it stops them dead on their tracks. I also do whatever I'm expected to do, but only a minimum. Play with their kid a little, engage in conversations a bit, go for a walk with them, etc. That way they won't eat my brain or something. If my sister starts raging over small stuff or bragging about piece of shit "president" she's so obsessed with, I pretend that I'm watching a bad comedy with bad actress, it helps me to distance myself from all that negativity.

/r/hsp Thread