Paranoia.

So you know when you’re alone at a coffee shop, and you have your ear buds in, listening to your music, laptop out, and you just feel like you’re in your own little world? Yeah, that never happens to me. The other day, I was at Starbucks, and I just felt like everyone was staring at me. I felt like guys kept standing too close, and women kept peering over my shoulder to see what I was doing on my laptop. Alright, so I was laughing by myself to this adorable video of a dog playing dead, but still. Does that feeling happen to other people, or is it just me, myself, and my paranoia?

I even got up to go to the restroom at one point, and this lady was just openly staring at me as I walked back. I understand how sometimes you might glance up at someone as they’re walking by, but she was full-on staring. No smile. No blinking. If I hadn’t just checked myself in the restroom mirror, I might have thought I had a boogie in my nose or something.

On rare occasions, one might take this as a compliment. As in, yeah, my hair looks great, and I have on a cute outfit. But I was wearing jeans, a fleece jacket, my hair was pulled into a messy bun and the only makeup I had on was some eyeliner I applied as I groggily tried to find my way out of the house. A beauty queen I was not. Maybe I had just had too much caffeine.