Last month after running a 5K a co-worker came up to me and told me he had waived and yelled to me during the race but I didn't notice him.
I have walked right past people that I know at the gym and not even noticed them when they were right in front of me.
I don't know when I started living my life in a tunnel but I don't think it's a good thing. I think part of it is my anxiety. In my head people are always looking at me or thinking bad things about me. If I look at them then I might notice this judgement. Over the years I have mastered the straight ahead stare. This is how I walk,drive, run, live.
I have injured myself multiple times because I was so focused on the goal that I was oblivious to what I was doing to achieve that goal:
Stitches in my forehead after bumping my head on bookshelf. Focusing on getting back to my seat as fast as possible lest someone notice me. Leaned over to throw something away and started to turn my head to walk back to my desk before I was done leaning over.
Staph infection in my fingernail after my earring punctured the space under the nail. Obsessing about my day and mindlessly getting dressed. Stuck hand in jewelry box blindly while trying to multitask 20 other things and running through the possible stresses of my day over and over again.
Countless incidents where I have bumped my head, walked into inanimate objects, fallen, stubbed my toe, set things on fire, etc.
There was a time when I was hyper observant. When I started studying martial arts everyone who walked past me on campus was a potential rapist. When I walked back to my car in the middle of the night I looked every stranger in the eye, all but daring them to attack me. The number one thing that women are taught in self defense classes is to be aware. To not be oblivious. Now here I am, living in a tunnel.
I don't know when my instincts to protect myself were overcome by my anxieties and fears. Yet another thing that I need to work on.
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