Permission

I have a fear of rejection. I have had this since I was a child and I was at other people's houses and needed to ask for a drink of water. Unless I knew the person INCREDIBLY well (for example my own mother) I couldn't ask, even though it is a request no reasonable person would say no to.

This has progressed into adulthood (yes I can now ask for things like water and where the bathroom is etc.) and it makes it hard to ask permission to do things in case they say no.

IF I ask and IF they say no, then I would honour their wishes, but it has always been a temptation to just... not tell them. I can't lie, but I can Not Volunteer Information. This does NOT work because people have a way of finding out things and while they would most likely have given permission, they like to be asked. I know this because if a child wants to go into my area, I am likely to say yes if they ask and get cranky if they don't. It is a respect thing.

So why am I so unwilling to ask permission? Does anyone else have this issue or is it just me? I know that hearing a No is not that devastating, you just move on with life, especially if you were prepared for the possibility and a yes is then a surprise and a bonus.

Any thoughts?