Do you get anxiety before entering a room with people in it?

[Andrew206]

I get anxious if I walk into a room with a bunch of people I don't know. If there are people in that room I know then it's different.

 

[Sagigirl14]

Yes, I have this problem also. Even when I used to ride the city bus. I'd see it on the way and my heart would start beating really fast and my palms start sweating. Then, when I sat down, I'd always think everyone was staring at me, so I'd look out the window the whole time. I eventually would calm down a little, once more people got on, for one reason, they'd be the ones getting stared at. I would also get anxious when I had to pull the cord for my stop. I'd always get stared at getting up and when I was getting off. I'd calm down after I was finally off though.

 

[Sagigirl14]

Yes, because they stare at me. Everyone stares at me all the time. I don't know why.

I feel the same way. I remember always asking my mom why people were always looking at me. Especially when it was a boy. She'd say, "Maybe he thinks you're cute." I just wanted them to not stare at me either way. Lol!

 

[Spiller]

Yes, I have this problem also. Even when I used to ride the city bus. I'd see it on the way and my heart would start beating really fast and my palms start sweating. Then, when I sat down, I'd always think everyone was staring at me, so I'd look out the window the whole time. I eventually would calm down a little, once more people got on, for one reason, they'd be the ones getting stared at. I would also get anxious when I had to pull the cord for my stop. I'd always get stared at getting up and when I was getting off. I'd calm down after I was finally off though.

Ah, the torture of public transport!
Buses in the UK are like those remote country pubs where everyone (even the dog) stares at you, the stranger, for a mini-eternity.. You can hear the flurry of suspicious eyebrows when you walk in/on!
I imagine mumbles of "Straangrrr" in a western UK cun'ry aaccent.. and when I leave, I'll hear mumbles of "Don' straay fr'm th' paath..".
..Then, you've gotta get off.. we have a red button you press, a big.. huge.. massive RED BUTTON! You're not supposed to press red buttons, they're for emergencies.. well me wanting to get off isn't an emergency, per se; why can't it be a friendly green button, eh?
I cringe even as I reach up for it.. hesitate.. press it.. the tolling bell of doom sounds from the front, "Ding, ding", the other passengers lives are now irrevocably disrupted because of me! I get up and commence the shuffle of shame to the doors (do you think it's possible to physically feel the pressure of photons reflected at you from the retinas of so many people staring reaaaly hard?)
Then I'm off.. sweat soaked, shaky and breathless from the ordeal, but alive!
I prefer to use the car, myself

 

[Esben]

No i normally don't care about having a lot of random people around me, AS LONG as I don't have to interact with anyone. If i have to talk to someone, my usual anxiety symptoms (muscle tension, stress tic's among on other things) will show their all to familiar face.

 

[umbrellabeach]

I feel the same way. I remember always asking my mom why people were always looking at me. Especially when it was a boy. She'd say, "Maybe he thinks you're cute." I just wanted them to not stare at me either way. Lol!

My mom says the same thing to me! But I don't think that - or anything else - is a good reason to stare at someone. Staring is rude no matter what.
A few weeks ago I started writing a (very sarcastic) list called "The Churchgoer's Guide to Making BFFs." The first thing I wrote was "Stare at potential friends to let them know you're interested." LOL! This morning I also added, "Stare at newcomers with a blank look on your face to make them feel welcome and surrounded by loving, respectful people."

 

[Aspergirl4hire]

Not really. But I do get anxiety when it comes to talking because I am afraid of making myself look stupid or saying the wrong thing. I swear I am getting more and more paranoid as I get older and I maybe have some low self esteem about myself.

Someone said to me recently that "anxiety is the fear of being judged." I've found that true, although I've also found it true that anxiety attacks emerge from needing Ann outcome that i can't control.

 

[zurb]

Then, you've gotta get off.. we have a red button you press, a big.. huge.. massive RED BUTTON!

And of course, the more stressed you are, the less convenient the button is. They move it specially when they see us coming. Once the selective mutism kicks in, you can't ask someone to do it for you, and its rude to reach across in front of their faces. So you stare at it and pray someone else pushes the button. As you get off the bus, you see the button that was right beside your hand.

 

[ExplosiveTMT]

Most times, not really. It's only if I'm about to become the center of everyone's attention, such as if I'm about to enter a room and it's my birthday, and my family is in there. Or if I'm about to get an award in an assembly/ rewards ceremony.

Those are the only times I can think of when nerves kick in.

 

[IAmParadiseSeekerJW]

I get very panicky. I have always found it hard since being quite young.

When I was at school, we had our "tutor time" before the start of lessons and I would purposely avoid it because I knew I would be faced with walking into a room regardless of how early I got there and how many were there. I found the same issue when it was lesson time...I couldn't cope walking in late so if I was going to be late, reluctantly (in the respect that, I love to learn and did view education as important as I still do to a degree) I would skip the lesson and be there for the next. I thought maybe it was a stupid thing young people got and thought that when I was old enough to start working, things would change because by that point, I would be old enough for silly things like that to have stopped. But once I started work, I was confronted with it again.

On a work day, I had to catch the bus to the office and then I would join my team before separating from the others and starting work. The office was the problem. I just couldn't face going in. I remember walking up the street and seeing in from a difference and looking at these men in their 20's messing about and women of my age or a bit older laughing and I couldn't cope with it. I considered in my head all the possibilities..Whether or not there was another entrance (which so obviously, there was not), whether I could go in and pretend they didn't exist (no way), or if I could casually stand outside against the wall pretending I had to make an important phone call or send an important message (the option I would typically go with) and then facing ones staring at me from inside giving me strange looks and then proceeding (what I thought) to talk about me. Thankfully, I somehow always ended up having the team leader come out and rescue me and talk with me until the team arrived but that was hard enough following him into the building :/

I wonder if it's just a thing because i'm young, or if its a ND trait or I don't know..

Please feel free to ignore my ramblings...i'm tired and not exactly with it and just rambling away

 

[Marycv]

I get anxiety mostly when there's lots of people. I try not going when there's lots of people. I feel it's hard to breath sometimes. I do breathing exercises, it helps a lot.

 

[geO]

I get very nervous and can hear my heat beating fast and also I also begin sweating.

 

[Heissonear]

I encounter a burst of anxiety if I walk in a room full of people and instantly become the focus where everyone stares at me.

It is similar if I sit at the front of a big meeting where all behind me can see me. It brings far too much self consciousness that many are watchIng my actions. Over a short amount of time I loose my freedom to just be me.

 

[Robby]

Yes I get this all the time like if I have a doctor's appointment or something and a lot of people are in the waiting room I don't freak out or anything but I have a lot of anxiety inside sometimes I'll go to the bathroom or something and wait until the room is less full before I enter it. I also have it in stores, I don't like crowds or being around a lot of people at once sometimes I'll walk around before I check out because I think the line is too busy but yes going into rooms with a lot of people or even just a few is really hard. What I really hate is when people are sitting down in a room and I walk into a room it's like they're sitting there and I interrupt it or something I've always hated that.

 

[bonnie79]

My partner does. He can't sit down in waiting rooms or if family are visiting that he doesn't see often he will often stand .... often near a door way. He always wears hoodies so he can cover up in strange environments. And if we go out for walks etc he will where music ear phones . It makes him feel safe and secure. And I get that . I'm happy to do what ever it takes to make his life happier and easier .

 

[StephF]

Yes

 

[Datura]

I used to have really bad social anxiety around crowds. I couldn't even force myself to leave the house for a while. Now the only thing that really bothers me is being on the bus with a bunch of teenagers. For some reason I always feel like they are collectively judging me.

 

[Spiller]

I used to have really bad social anxiety around crowds. I couldn't even force myself to leave the house for a while. Now the only thing that really bothers me is being on the bus with a bunch of teenagers. For some reason I always feel like they are collectively judging me.

I was like this for a while, couldn't stand anyone seeing me. Loneliness and the will to live drove me to force myself out in the end though.. I'm still working hard at it Sounds like you solved that one for yourself too.
Do you think the discomfort around teenagers is because you were bullied at school? I was either taunted or ignored all through school, a very isolated and lonely time for me and even now the thought of walking into a secondary school makes me sweat..

 

[watersprite]

Yes. I always thought that I'd get less anxiety as I got older, but it never happened. I feel just like most of the above posts too.

 

[Judge]

Yes. I always thought that I'd get less anxiety as I got older, but it never happened. I feel just like most of the above posts too.

In my own case as I have gotten older, I've come to believe that the more autonomous and independent I am from society, the less in general my social anxiety has become. Maybe I just stopped caring what others think of me!

But on occasion I can still have those awful moments....