I get mild panic attacks inwardly, when I'm about to pass somebody along a street that is not busy but not lonely. I always get that awkward feeling. I never know what to do. I worry that they might judge me or something, so I kind of pretend to be looking at something over the road so that they are out of my periphery, then I won't have to worry if they were staring at me or not. I used to try to make eye contact and smile, but I find that makes me feel worse because most people just look at me with a blank face and don't bother to smile back - even though I have read in so many magazines that smiling at strangers is friendly and will make you feel good. When I'm with somebody else, all they have to do is briefly glance at a passing stranger for, like, half a second, and they get a friendly ''hello''. That always bothers me because it makes me feel unimportant, which is why now I hate passing people, unless the street is busy, that's different, but when just passing a person along a quiet road, I get that awkwardness and it's a horrible feeling.
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Female