Laughing/smiling

[SoulSeeker]

Does anybody find this difficult to do?

Due to my severe self consciousness and stress..it now feels really unatural and forced when i try to smile or laugh. I mean even in front of my nephews last night..sometimes i just felt like a freak because my face was so tense. ::

I've always had an awkward smile anyways..but it just feels really rubbery and tight now. It worries me..because i never used to be like this..or even think about it. I used to be able to interact whilst smiling/laughing no problem..but now..it just seems like my problems/demons stop me from relaxing and just letting it happen naturally.

It really bothers me..because i end up having to just look to the floor..or look away..or just force something out...and it just gives off negative vibes..when i dont even intend to do this. It's like im trying to hold the smile there..and my mouth is fighting to return back to a normal closed position. Just make me feel like a freak..and it gets me down and makes me feel scared sometimes..because it feels like an automatic reaction that i cannot control. ::

 

[Ignace]

Smiling is not a problem, not smiling is. I always try to come over friendly, even if I don't want to. I laugh way too fast !

 

[SoulSeeker]

Smiling is not a problem, not smiling is. I always try to come over friendly, even if I don't want to. I laugh way too fast !

Im very friendly..and i find the slightest things funny. It's just my face is always taught and tense because of self consciousness, bdd and stress. I can see my cbt therapist trying to teach me smiling techniques here *facepalm*.

 

[Ignace]

Im very friendly..and i find the slightest things funny. It's just my face is always taught and tense because of self consciousness, bdd and stress. I can see my cbt therapist trying to teach me smiling techniques here *facepalm*.

I don't know how that is, I don't have BDD, what can I say ? Try to relax in such situations and try to smile. I know, it's easier said then done.

 

[friendchen]

I'm like that too.. can't smile and can't laugh.. even when i can force to laugh, i don't know how to put my lips in normal position again in a normal way,,feel so awkward.

If somebody introduce me to somebody.. I don't know how to react,, I smile but I know my smile look fake and so tense..then in a very freaky way.. I look away..and later try to get out of that situation..

That's way I don't like personal relationships.. you need to look friendly all the time..geez

 

[BlackPuma]

I'm sorry to hear that. Though, I don't think it makes you a freak at all.

When it comes to public area's, I too have a bad case of the 'neutral face'. In public I can't smile, or even pop the most natural facial expression. Same thing goes for body language and general speech. I won't even start about the events of when my high school photo was taken. Drama. ^W^;

What I'm trying to say with a bit of an awkward detour, is that you're not a freak when you don't smile. Not even in the slightest. :3

 

[jishaku]

I'm like that too.. can't smile and can't laugh.. even when i can force to laugh, i don't know how to put my lips in normal position again in a normal way,,feel so awkward.

If somebody introduce me to somebody.. I don't know how to react,, I smile but I know my smile look fake and so tense..then in a very freaky way.. I look away..and later try to get out of that situation..

That's way I don't like personal relationships.. you need to look friendly all the time..geez

This.

So true I hate it I hate it.

 

[DanFC]

social anxiety + bad teeth = constant grimace

 

[JamieD]

I have big dimples But i know what you mean, although most of the time i'm quiet and don't laugh much, but when around friends i can't help but have a permanent smile on my face, then i suddenly realise 'oh i can stop smiling now'. I think i just smile/laugh too much to blend in with people.

 

[Scottish_Player]

but it just feels really rubbery and tight now.

Try rubbing your face before you go into a situation where you know you might need to be smiling, use both hands and just rub your face and loosen it up, especialy around the mouth and cheeks spend about 20 secs or so doing this and then stretch your mouth open 2 or 3 times as wide as it will go. I know it may sound a bit daft but it does work and has worked for me for a long time now it just loosens the face up a little and helps take away the tension.

 

[illuminationSP]

I'm unable to laugh or smile in front of my mother. You should see how quickly I manage to change the look on my face whenever she walks into the room. The discomfort that it causes me is far too strong, so I keep a neutral face.

 

[recluse]

Faking a smile is so hard to do. I have to force myself to smile most of the time, i find myself practicing in the mirror at work because i am convinced people will think i look strange faking smiling. I even take pictures of myself on my phone trying to find a way of making my fake smiles look genuine, a lot of the time i look like a weirdo o'r paedophile!

 

[Hellhound]

That's way I don't like personal relationships.. you need to look friendly all the time..geez

If you are around ignorant idiots then yes... Not everyone will expect you to look like that all the time, because no one can be in a good mood all the time. And even if you're in a good mood, you don't have to vomit rainbows all over the place to show it. You can be friendly, yet serious looking. If someone can not understand that, they're not worth your company.

 

[SlanGodhand]

Heehee, whenever i smile it always looks fake and...probably kind of crazy.

 

[dottie]

totally relate. i wish i was a more jocular person.

and because of this when i am interacting with people i overcompensate with fake smiling. i smile too hard and too much. creepy. awkward. it was taught to me at an early age (textbook 101 style) you have to smile to be accepted. it is so engrained from this. instead of looking like an antisocial bitch (perhaps the truth) i look like a cheesey DB. which ups the anxiety and self loathing.

 

[awkwardamanda]

I fake a smile sometimes. It's not that I want people to think I'm happy. I just don't want them to know I'm often sad and miserable. I kinda have to at work. I work in a store and have to be able to say hi and smile at customers. I can pretend to be in a good mood and friendly. I remember once I smiled and said hi to this elderly man and I think I just answered a question for him or something, and then he said "well you've got a fantastic smile." Not in a creepy sort of way at all. Just a friendly comment. I don't even remember how I responded to that, but I was amused that I was able to fool people anyway. A lot of times I'm either in a half-decent kind of mood or I feel depressed. I usually don't feel happy unless I'm laughing at something, actually.

 

[Pookah]

I smile nervously ok, but it is rarely a smile out of genuine amusement/happiness. At least not a toothy smile, I smirk with mouth closed in a kind of awkward way.

The only time it is fairly natural is when I'm comfortable with my surroundings and the people.

Do you think its a result of depression?

 

[da_illest101]

unless i find something funny, i could not smile naturally even if my life was depending on it

 

[Tiercel]

I rarely laugh, and my smiles are almost always closed mouth ones.

Of course once I actually relax and open my mouth, then the whole self-conscious thing makes me worry that there might be something in my teeth, or that my breath stinks, or that whatever made me smile wasn't that funny, etc. Oh, and crooked teeth make all my smiles look like smirks, whether I'm actually smirking or not.

I don't know about depression. I do know that my upper lip makes it difficult to show my teeth without looking creepy.

Oh! When I was like 4 years old I didn't listen to Mom and ended up knocking out my two front teeth. And since people showed their teeth when they smiled, there are a few photos of me with a rather retarded-looking smile that shows my bottom teeth.

 

[Perspicacious]

I'm able to smile fake and have it look very very real, but for a long time I was terrified of looking happy. I don't know why, maybe I was afraid that people would envy me for being happy and therefore I shouldn't because it makes other people think negatively of me... something like that... I've never really figured it out, I don't think I ever will. But now that I've started to get a little more bold I can smile and laugh in front of people, though sometimes I'm a little bit reluctant to if I think about it.