Do you have problems with paranoia?

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I have problems with this sort of thing. I don't always know where to put my hands, and I don't know where to look when strangers are passing me in the street because I worry that if I look at them it might look like I’m staring and I don’t want to intimidate, but if I look away then I look unfriendly or nervous and then I think they’re looking at me more, and it has just turned into such an ordeal that I become afraid to go out unless I really have to.

I also get paranoid that I am being watched or observed and judged negatively by everyone. Sometimes when I go out looking nice and feeling confident and so on, I still feel people are staring at me as they pass as though I am doing something wrong all the time, which makes me feel self-conscious. I really wish it was a social rule to not stare at people, especially if they’re not staring back. I wish there was a hidden social rule what the general population instinctively follow, something called ‘’if you are walking past a person who is not looking at you, do not stare at them’’. I wish that social rule was a strict as ‘’British women must shave their legs’’. Then I would be happy and less paranoid. And yes I know people are staring at me even though I’m not looking at them, because I see their head turn towards me in the corner of my eye, even if there is a brick wall behind me (meaning they can’t be looking in my direction unless the brick wall is more interesting than me). Maybe I have become so paranoid that I think everyone is turning their head towards me as they pass but they’re really not, I don’t know. I’m too afraid to make eye contact with them to find out, so I just carry on staring ahead like I don’t care. Doesn’t work though.

In my experience I've had paranoia when I've had nothing to do for long periods, nothing to occupy mind mind. No drama, no challenge, my constant thinking therefore invents one.