The "Made Ya Look" Look

I knew I had personal quirks, but college has a way of revealing what my friends at home must have gotten used to.

Recently I've become conscious of my unusual conversational habits. Eye contact makes me feel vulnerable and uncomfortable, so I tend to avoid it or abruptly disengage it mid-conversation. This confuses people when I tell stories or give hypothetical dialogues. I'll be telling a story while making eye contact ("So he just walked away, rolling his eyes at the professor.") and then I'll suddenly look over the shoulder of the person I'm talking to and continue ("Like, WOW. Are you kidding me?").

More often than not, the person I'm talking to will hurriedly look over his/her shoulder, thinking that my exclamation was a real-time reaction instead of a continuation of my story. I think this is also due to the way my voice tends to break off and deceptively shift tones.

I'm trying to quit doing this. I'm sure causing people to falsely look over their shoulders all the time is at least as uncomfortable for them as eye contact is for me, and honestly, eye contact is a life skill I need to master.

While we're on the topic of things that make me uncomfortable, my dorm this year is suite style, meaning that my room and one other room are joined by a bathroom. Major pet peeve of mine? Having people near me when I'm trying to relieve myself. The idea of people being able to hear my bodily functions is enough to scare the pee into permanent residency inside me.

I guess I'll have to get over that too.

~Stephanie