The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/introvert/)
There is a very specific feeling of dread that often overtakes me in uncomfortable social settings. My blood begins to churn and immense pressure builds up in my chest. I can’t quite think straight and the usual screening process between emotion and action is infiltrated by panic and an impulse to escape.
Most questions that come to mind aren’t grand or conceptual in any particular way; they arise in a much more preliminary stage of the learning process, as we try to understand the details of going from point A to B. It just wouldn’t be productive for all of our hands to shoot up when the professor asks “Any questions?”, only to go over a certain part of the lecture over again.
Many of my social interactions are fraught with insecurities and self-conscious neuroticisms. Something as simple as waiting in a lecture hall can be an arduous process as my brain is constantly scanning the room to gauge how others might be assessing me. I can never seem to get out of my head and live in the moment.