When I am being watched

[Fridgemagnetman]

Last one was unravelling a hose pipe - tried it differently. Had to be told how to do it.

The simplest of tasks which I do repeatedly, if I repeat them when someone can see suddenly go wrong.
Normally with a massive dose of humiliation for me.

I thinks it's my thoughts go into overdrive and I obsess about their perception of watching me doing the simple task , then it goes wrong..
Frustration,annoyance,anger - story for the observer to pass around to everyone. Reputation as an idiot solidified. (The thoughts contain all these possible outcomes as I start doing the task so I start perceiving the observers retelling as it goes wrong and start feeling humiliated even before it happens... then guess what )
Not giving a .... helps and never trying to do anything in another's presence helps a,lot....

Eom

 

[Suzanne]

Have had this all my life.

I touch type and am pretty fast with typing, but as soon as my husband stand over me, suddenly I make so many mistakes it is stupid.

I fall to pieces when someone is looking on. So what I am really good at, suddenly I am really bad at.

I was using my husband's phone to text and have cultivated a fast text with just one finger and then my husband says: wow, that is so impressive; no mistakes and guess what? I made mistakes and he just found it amusing and said: well, will take that one back!

I conclude that it is a complete lack of self worth and confidence and to do with chronic social anxiety. I HATE the perception of being scrutinzed; note: perception? And when it becomes a reality I am hopeless.

 

[LittleLemon]

I hate when someone asks me to play my banjo for them. I can do some songs flawlessly when I'm by myself. If someone is watching, especially people I don't know well, I suddenly have no coordination of my fingers and it's embarrassing.

It's this way with most everything else too. When I'm at my mother in law's and she asks me to chop some vegetables for dinner, I get so self conscious and I get so clumsy. When I'm done, I get worried I did it wrong despite there not really being a wrong way of chopping. Well, once she asked me to chop some green olives for egg salad sandwiches. She handed me a jar, so I chopped every single one. I didn't know I did anything wrong until months later, she was telling the story to someone and said the sandwiches actually turned out well due to the abundance of green olives. Well, how was I supposed to know I was only supposed to do a small handful?? She was telling it like it was a hilarious story and probably wasn't aware how self conscious I felt about it.

 

[OkRad]

This is mixed for me. I have an odd ability to block things out to such an extent. It's one of those things "I share" with autism. I can literally block it all out (not sounds, etc, but the idea that people are watching me).

I am not sure how I honed this skill. I think it is because I am a mystic. I can go into trances and fugues almost at will.

If there is sensory overload, it is different. I have to block it out.

If someone is watching me like a shrink or a Dr or a person that I don't want to them to think (or know) I am a bit off, then I fake and stuff, but I don't see those kinds of people a lot.

 

[Suzanne]

I hate when someone asks me to play my banjo for them. I can do some songs flawlessly when I'm by myself. If someone is watching, especially people I don't know well, I suddenly have no coordination of my fingers and it's embarrassing.

It's this way with most everything else too. When I'm at my mother in law's and she asks me to chop some vegetables for dinner, I get so self conscious and I get so clumsy. When I'm done, I get worried I did it wrong despite there not really being a wrong way of chopping. Well, once she asked me to chop some green olives for egg salad sandwiches. She handed me a jar, so I chopped every single one. I didn't know I did anything wrong until months later, she was telling the story to someone and said the sandwiches actually turned out well due to the abundance of green olives. Well, how was I supposed to know I was only supposed to do a small handful?? She was telling it like it was a hilarious story and probably wasn't aware how self conscious I felt about it.

Oh my, that is always my worry, when I am asked to do something, I always fear that I am doing it wrong and can even have nightmares about it.

 

[Judge]

Yeah. It gets to me and sometimes quite easily.

I'm reminded of one time when I applied for a job and I was given an application to fill out. As I began looking at the form, the person assigned to interview me sat right next to me, watching me fill out the form- line by line.

It was so unnerving I stopped, and told the woman I needed some information I had left in my car. I exited the office and never returned.

Luckily I never again had such an experience of someone invading my personal space like that under some of the most stressful situations imaginable for myself.

WTF!

 

[ksheehan88]

I can't focus if I'm being watched, it makes me extremely uncomfortable and nervous.

 

[Alcyon]

This is something that I used to experience to a great degree. Over the years, there were so many occasions where I was observed at work, I just got used to it.

But it is very rare (never?) for me to take a seat on the bus or subway that is at a ninety-degree angle, right in front of another person; in other words, if they're looking ahead, they get a side view of me about two feet in front of them. That ain't happening!

 

[Judge]

I'm suddenly reminded of why I enjoy sitting in the very back of a movie theater.

Although "pay-per-view" solved that concern.

 

[Bolletje]

When I feel uncomfortable around people I become incapable of even the simplest actions due to my clumsiness. The number of times I've failed at picking up or carrying a cup of tea, instead spilling it all over myself or the floor... I've lost count.

 

[Southern Discomfort]

Yeah, I think this is a quite a phenomena. I and may people experience this sort of thing. I've experienced when I've gone over to friend's houses to play computer games with them. People experience this when playing sports. I just it is a certain inability of focusing on the matter at hand. But I think it is something you can train yourself to get past.

 

[umbrellabeach]

Sometimes customers at work stand by me and watch me bag. I can still do it but I fumble a little more and it's a really uncomfortable experience. Why do they feel the need to supervise me like I'm a child?