Whenever I'm walking around in public I only look at people from a distance; if I have to pass, I never look at them. Most of the time I never even glance at people I walk by, even if it's just an isolated hallway with no one else around. Truth is, I can't stand that soulless look people have on their faces when they look at you. Not that I'm smiling all the time either, I think that'd be creepy-ish and excessive. It's just that they always have this look on their face like they're in a concentration camp or something, and even though I know it's not only directed at me I find it disgusting. So I don't like to look at people. Yeah I know it's human curiosity and all that to look at people you come into proximity with or whatever, but come on.

What's even worse sometimes is when they're smiling, and I'm not sure why. I also have this bad habit of feeling anxious whenever I hear people laugh nearby. I know there's little to no reason for it to be directed at me most of the time but I just can't help it. Any of this happen to other people?

I always keep my head down when in public and absolutely hate it when I hear people laughing nearby. Instant panic.

I can't look strangers in the eyes, just too uncomfortable when you both make eye contact and you know they're judging you.


Same, i always believe it's me they're laughing at so that makes the anxiety even worse.

When l am normal, l can look people in the eye and even give them a friendly greeting.

When l am depressed, l get scared every time l see someone in the distance walking down the street. l know we'll cross paths and l worry what l have to do. Do l have to say hi, will they look at me, is it someone l know, what are they thinking, are they judging me, l don't care, screw them- l am in utter turmoil until they finally pass me.

I hate to look at people because then I see them looking at me and I fucking hate when people look at me. Hallways are always the worst.
When I hear people laugh I usually think "Shut up! What the hell do you have to be so happy about??"

Me when I had to go buy food earlier today. A buncha guys laughed behind me and I was like 'OHSHI-'

That's what I'm like. I get so paranoid.

I usually avoid eye contact when walking on my own street and I'm known for smoking weed while walking down the road so I just don't think they see me as a respectable person in their community. . If it's at a place like a mall or theme park I'll usually look around to see if anyone's looking at me. I ironically probably seem like one of the judgmental people who stares at everyone.

I'm not really terrified of people rather than running into people from my past and having to talk after having changed so much. If I have to go out in public I can at least deal better than a year ago.

Also the same, of course. Its an issue even before I go outside too.
Since I live in a shared dorm, I have to pass my roommates whenever i go into the living room or go out or come in. They don't tell me about how Im not very social, but i heard them talk about it so that does not help.
And people are always staring! Its like "WTF ARE YA LOOKIN' AT?!?!" Thats annoying too! (am i still on topic, I think so)

Yeah, I never like looking at people, it's the worst for me if I'm walking past someone going the other way in the street,
I never even look in their direction, let alone at them, and I just kinda keep my head down and ignore them...

I don't look at people in puplic, they could look back.
It is annoying, if you walk with a dude and then a beautiful woman comes along.
After this you have to explain why you didn't looked at her.

I always try and walk with my head up. I used to always walk with my head down, but I realized it looked odd and out of place when I noticed other people that would do the same. So I've learned to walk with my head up as to decrease attention to myself. It sounds counterproductive, but logically speaking, it makes sense. Despite this, eye contact with people while I'm walking throws me off balance, quite literally actually, my knees start to feel weak when I'm walking by someone and I notice that they're looking at me, it's really weird. I only started noticing it this year.

Same here. I used to always walk with my head down and my arms crossed when I was younger. Not necessarily due to anxiety around people, but because it was what felt most comfortable to me. Now, I try to keep my head up also, for the same reasons.However, I do mostly avoid meeting the gaze of others when I'm out. That's why I tend to "blank" people I know if I pass them by.

Eye contact is very powerful - if I make eye contact with someone when I didn't mean to do so, I feel a jolt. As soon as your eyes meet with someone else's, you're engaging them. It can make me feel exposed if I do not know the person or if I am not otherwise comfortable in the situation. Even with friends and family, I have noticed myself avoiding eye contact when chatting with them, which is why I try to make the effort nowadays, so as not to appear weird.

I think my dog has actually helped me with eye contact. In fact dogs demonstrate very well how powerful eye contact is. If you ever get into a staring competition with a dog, you'll know what I mean . I think it's because they are such straightforward creatures and they don't talk, so the body language has to say it all.

Buuuuut anyway, I'm digressing. Out in public, I actually can't help but watch others sometimes. So yeah, I'm one of the starers



It's only when they look back that I get uncomfortable.

Hawk never understood this and always chewed me out for shutting down whenever I heard laughter the rare times we went out in public together.

Went to the bank today, and one of the tellers was talking, on and on, to someone while setting up an account or something. Of particular interest was a several-minute-long digression on adults who like'a th' anime (EDIT: ach! foogots, iim scotts). Paranoia levels must be in the red today. It's like I'm typing this mainly to get reassurance that they were not talking about me... that they didn't somehow know from my appearance (which is ridiculous, certainly. unless someone is wearing a tshirt w/ a picture on it or something, how on earth could you tell that they watch anime) or the insular nature of the community (again, though, like, they'd have to be or know an immediate neighbor who would have to have been listening awfully hard to hear and discern japanese at the volume i play my computer). see, complete ridiculousness!

no way was any of that directed at me personally .... but that doesn't mean it wasn't annoying ... but then, i thought, i probably say stuff that annoys other people all the time, even when i don't realize it. i agree with Shiro, shoegazing is best reserved for occasions when you're /really/ struggling to keep your shit together ... but quietude is probably good practice for public, eh?

... hm, returning to the original post: you might be thinking, "i'm /always/ having trouble 'keeping my shit togther,' as you crassly put it." I guess that leaves two options: get better at conforming despite anxiety or get better at not cring what other people think.

When I'm in public I avoid looking people in the eye as I consider it a sign of hostility and a threat. I tend to walk with my head up and staring far ahead, while sometimes quickly glancing around at the people in my proximity, trying to see if they are someone I know or if they are staring at me. If I do lock eyes with someone I will look away, and then look back a second later to see if they are still looking at me, and if they are they usually look away at that point. Man, I must give off the aura of a real psycho in public.

When driving, I avoid looking at other drivers unless necessary. For example, if someone is passing me on the highway I will never look over at them as they go by, and when stopped at a stoplight I almost never look over at the car next to me. Once again, this is due to my belief that eye contact is an aggressive sign, and when on the road the last thing you want is to incite aggression in the idiot drivers out there.

Of course when speaking to someone I understand that it is very proper to look them in the eye. In that situation it shows respect as you are giving them your full attention and showing that you understand what they say. I sometimes struggle to find the balance between not looking a speaker in the eye enough and staring intensely at them, but if I stop over analyzing the situation it all flows pretty naturally.

I hate eye contact...

I make sure never to do it with random people, but I can't even look into my friends' eyes when I'm talking to them, so sometimes they think I might be lying...
but eye contact makes me really nervous so I just avoid it at all costs...

I'm actually not very aware of what I'm doing while in public. I find the thing that helps my anxiety the most is to disengage from the world around me as much as possible. So I'll wander around stumbling into things and staring at the sky and such...I probably look like a lunatic, but I try not to think about it.

Xanax. Or overdose on Phenazepam lmao.... NO. No.

Edit: I understand that I went WAY off-topic here, but I think it may help somewhat. I'm just rambling I guess, I think you'll get the idea... I'm still high as fuck off this Phenazepam ...

Well, anyway, without stupid unnecessary meds that I'm sure many of you don't need (I hopefully will only need it while I'm doing a short treatment along with therapy), maybe this will help (or maybe this won't ) - imagine people who have eye tics. People might make a deal out of looking at you thinking "wut" if you have a tic or something. Others are nice and don't care and think ("aww, I send them my secret useless love ). I have/have had tics, but because I had this overdose and discovered benzos help, I've not been focussing on it. At all. Not doing it for shit. Mayvbe I broke a part of my brain that deals with that... I guess it's Anxiety based. Foll0wing me? So anyway, just know that they're just your eyes looking at theirs, and don't think of it as anything moire than that. IF you however have a tic or something and you want to either get rid of it or reduce ir (due to anxiety or whatever), then please go see your doc and tell him that urge to wink those nerves needs some relaxation. Like a benzo, but maybe only as short term treatment, or perhaps switching between that and something else (you don't want to get addicted). Blah, I hope I've helped somewhat, just go see your doctor Loane, and don't hold back about every little detail - I just found out a relative of mine had a tic because of a cartoon he watched which he copied and found hard to stop - I had no idea, I thought it was because of MY tic.

Anyway, I wish you the best Loane.

Yeah well... what do you do when your doctor cuts you off a 10-month long Valium dependence? Shot into the vicegrip of Hells hikikomori lifestyle from the withdrawals.

I just wish i knew why I'm eating so much damn food now. Maybe it's because i recently stopped drinking beer... my GABA receptors must be screaming for agonists...

Sounds horrid, maybe I'm at the beginning of some hell. I just ordered more as it got stolen and trashed by the mothership . I still dab little bits I spilt on my desk though every now n then and it lasts for a long time? Could even be more placebo now.... doubt it though.

I'm seeing my doc and some therapist psychogicalanalytical humans this week and tbh I just want them to give me a constant supply of benzos. Meh. Can't be fucked to explain anymore to be honest...

I've not been to sleep in around 19 hours now, def need to take my brain to the PokGABAll centre.




Y-y-y-shee wut I did der?

my appearance is not so typical, so i only feel uncomfortable when im dealing with stupid or moronic mothers who think im some weirdo who would do something to their kids - but i guess thats where 'company' comes in... . other than that i feel average. odd enough... by observation men seem nicer to me, i mean come on, they open doors for me and even offer to carry my groceries to the car etc ... how many women do that.

hmmm just read it again... its about looking at people in public... eh

but hey still i guess its ok. i DO feel some anxiety when its like freakin hot and im getting sweaty. sweat - makeup = !!!. i hate it when i have pimples too so i tend not to look at people, dont want em getting a good look at my face hihihi

Ignore or panic for me

Yes.. I've never really been that confident with my appearance.. I've always looked like an ogre.. Like some of you.. I also tend to just look down.. Not staring at people in the eyes..

i've been diagnosed by a psychiatrist for social anxiety/general anxiety/avoidance personality disorder (plus others not to due to anxiety)
i use to have a lot of trouble simply making brief eye contact, even with friends. the fear and anxiety it would induce was unbearable at times.
to deal with that, in my late teens, i started forcing myself to make eye contact with people, in public. I first would do this with sunglasses on, so I could see them, but they wouldn't know i was staring at them - sitting on a bus for ex. is perfect as it seems you're just looking out the window.
it was difficult at first, but slowly i would walk with my head/face facing forward, instead of at the ground, and what I noticed was that when I locked eyes with someone, they'd turn away pretty quickly. i started getting a kick out of doing that, especially as it's along the same lines as my sense of humour - razzing people for their reactions (think early public access Tom Green, CKY & Jackass etc) not that I did those things, but I find that stuff entertaining, more so the reactions.
it's about 10 years since i first started doing that and it is no longer a problem for me to keep eye contact in conversation, or in day-to-day life. The key is to start out very small, just enough so you feel some mild discomfort that you can work through.
I'm 29 though, and have been dealing with these anxiety issues since a child, to the point where finishing high school was near impossible.