Hosts condescend to friend who declined their invitation to a 'silent dinner party,' call them close-minded and unsupportive: 'They said it was supposed to make them mindful and improve their non-verbal connection'

It's important to get out of your comfort zone every now and again. If you never did, you would never grow as a person. You certainly don't have to go skydiving, but little things here and there can create the same effect. You might never discover your burgeoning poetic prowess if you never attended that poetry open mic you were apprehensive about. Sometimes we get nervous about things because we know they will matter to us, and we don't want to mess it up. If you had never shown up to that pick-up pickleball game, even though you're insecure about your swing, you would never have met your wife (who graciously gave you some tips). We would miss out on all kinds of life stuff if we only went places where we were 100% comfortable.

But it's up to you where you draw the line on how far you will push yourself. For example, I would go to a silent dinner party if a friend invited me, but I wouldn't go bungee jumping by myself.

This story is all about getting out of your comfort zone, and when you should have to do that. Should you push yourself for the sake of a friend, and is jeopardizing a friendship worth it, on either side? Read on to see what you think.
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via (Unsplash+) Andrej Lišakov

^{This image is for illustration only, and the subjects are models; the image does not depict the actual subjects of the story.}
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AITA for Refusing to Participate in My Friend's "Silent Dinner Party"?

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Commenters agreed that they weren't wrong to decline, but some interrogated why.

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