Bad Habits

While I have a list of bad habits, there are two that I really need to change:

1. Making eye contact- When I was younger, I was shy. Not just shy, but painfully shy. So while I had no trouble making and keeping friends, it was just the whole "process" of meeting new people that was difficult. I was very quiet and I did not like to talk because I felt people would think what I said was "stupid" or I simply didn't know how to make conversation. In any case, the shyness was sadly mistakened for being mean, and for a good portion of my childhood, people called me "evil." They attributed my quietness to not caring and read-what I thought to be my normal facial expression- as me rolling eyes. I'd managed to avoid plenty of fights from girls who thought I was "grimming" (childish) them. So, to save everyone the trouble, I got into the habit of not looking people in the eyes. No one could say I looked evil or looked at them the wrong way if I didn't make eye contact at all right?

Unfortunately, that bad habit carried into my adult years. While I have enough confidence to go into an interview or a business meeting and talk to people face-to-face, I find myself in conversation with family members, old friends, etc. looking at the wall, looking at the floor or looking past them. My exes will be the first to tell you that there were many times when we'd get into arguments simply because they wanted to stare at me. "Stop looking at me," I'd say, "You make me feel as if there's something on my face."

Which leads to bad habit #2, that is, in my opinion, quite HI-larious:

2) Paranoia/Conspiracy Theorist- Too often I hear people abuse the phrase "I don't trust anyone." Yeah. And while I share those same sentiments, my lack of "trust" is somewhat taken to the extreme. I believe there is a conspiracy behind...everything. Illumanati, McDonalds, Apple, the Washington Monument, the dollar bill, the Michigan Union at my school- everything. While I don't actually believe in ALL the theories that people, I do believe there's a conspiracy behind a lot of things. Will I bother to find them? Nope.

The paranoia is not that extreme. I just can't walk home by myself without looking over my shoulder 10 times or more. Or, leave my apartment without my house being clean or my bed being spread. But that probably spills over into being a little OCD.

Gosh, where's Dr. Phil when you need him? Dr. Dre? Anyone?