Strangers or familiar faces. What do you fear more?

[thequietone]

My therapist said SA is different for each person and that some people can't stand asking a stranger for the time but have no problem talking to a friend.
I find that I can more easily talk to people I think I won't ever see again and who have no background with me. But if I see someone I know, especially a peer, I usually hide behind something. Literally. :roll:
I feel like I need to be in control of the conversation, being able to begin it and end it (politely as possible). But friends and familiar faces always have more to say, things to ask. They might want to do something with you, they know more about you and therefore they expect more.

How is it for you?

 

[IceLad]

I fear strangers less. Like you said, you won't see them again and they don't expect anything from you, so you relax a lot more. If I see people I know, there's a 'pressure' to have a chat with them and for that chat to go well. When I see people I know, I go into panic mode, and often I've hidden from them or pretended that I haven't noticed them.

:? :?

 

[Shonen_Yo]

For me, it's strangers. Strangers just do not realize who I really am and usually assume the worst from the first impression.

Friends are predictable and I know they won't criticize me.

 

[Indecisive]

I fear people I know more, they just know more about me and I feel more pressure to carry on a good conversation. Because I'm not working and basicly just killing time on the computer and doing yard work around the house I don't have anything exciting to share during the conversation.

Basicly I'm afraid of saying the wrong things and having the person I'm talking to look at me like I'm crazy. It's like I don't know how to communicate or even form words, and sentences sometimes. I type on the computer much more then I speak.

 

[riverbelow]

whoa, good question. i honestly couldn't tell you cause both scare the hell out of me.

 

[dmsg]

The people i know definitely scare me more.

 

[lifes_to_long]

people i know more strangers is just a brief encounter a good acting oppotunity

 

[Indecisive]

people i know more strangers is just a brief encounter a good acting oppotunity

Acting is exactly what I feel like I'm doing all the time. Seems most people have a passion for something in their life, for me I'm just going thru the motions. Seems whereever I am and whatever I'm doing I'd rather be somewhere else, I just don't seem to be happy in the moment. While I'm there all I want to do it get whatever I'm doing over with, I can't just enjoy it and soak it in, then later I regret the way I acted or actions I took.

I just have a worried/paranoid/unable to relax type of feeling inside me all the time, sleeping is a good escape.

 

[blubs]

familiar faces scare me more...should have been a hobo...
like the littlest hobo....
"maybe tomorrow I'll want to settle down...until tomorrow I'll just keep movin on.."...la...la..la..la........................

*big sigh**

 

[thequietone]

Because I'm not working and basicly just killing time on the computer and doing yard work around the house I don't have anything exciting to share during the conversation.
Basicly I'm afraid of saying the wrong things and having the person I'm talking to look at me like I'm crazy. It's like I don't know how to communicate or even form words, and sentences sometimes. I type on the computer much more then I speak.

That sounds like me. My two friends are doing SO MUCH. You know, partying, joking, meeting people. And I uh....shelve books at the library, take care of my cats and write on the computer. :roll: yep. I'm living the life. It's really too bad we feel the need to compare ourselves to others. I'm trying to stop that because it in no way improves my situation.

 

[boro]

People I know, because I think with people I know (particularly if I like them) I care more about what they think of me, whereas with strangers i know i'll never see them again so if i sense that they don't like what im saying this will still be a blow to my self confidence but it won't matter so much in the long term.