Some personal examples that come to mind are:
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Being late for work because I heard the people in the apartment next to me leave and I waited five minutes so I wouldn’t have to share the elevator
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Cleaning my house for two hours before strategically placing items I can talk about just so I can have a friend of multiple years over and after they left replaying things I said to make sure I didn’t say anything embarrassing
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Not being able to look my Tinder date in the eyes even though we’ve been talking for a month and we had planned to have relations that evening
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Spending $200 on a sweater at a craft market because I worked up the courage to ask the price and couldn’t bring myself to say no thanks
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Forgetting something I needed at a store and just leaving because I didn’t want to face the cashier
They’re all things that are silly in hindsight that I later realised the average person likely wouldn’t have done. I know no one would have really cared in these situations.
Just curious what stories people have.
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Spending a greater part of a bus ride, worrying as the bus gets fuller and anticipating having to push my way out or accidentally stepping on toes.
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Replaying past interactions in my head and beating myself over what I could have done better.
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Taking the paths with less people around.
There are more but I’m a bit wiped at the moment.
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Not that silly. Are you seeing anyone to talk through these things?
I have social anxiety and do things like this, but to a lesser degree, and talking to a therapist really benefited me.
Just gonna barge in to say, this post and its comments, and this community explains what I’ve experienced in my life so much and makes me feel almost certain it’s some form of anxiety disorder. Thank you random strangers for this diagnosis
My ability to recognize my emotions, like anxiety is frighteningly low. I first learned how to detect it because a medication gave me a panic attack.
Some hindsight things I could’ve recognized and some current ones: I feared gatherings,
After getting my driving license I did not want to drive by myself,
eating dinner with my family always felt awkward,
Extreme self awareness of all my actions and interactions,
Inability to randomly interact with strangers,
can’t use urinals unless I’m alone,
have been spending the past 2 weeks building the courage to ask HR about schooling this fall.
