7 Weird Things We All Do (But Won't Admit)
When we are honest with ourselves, which can be harder than it seems, we all know that we are each at least a little bit "weird".
Whether it be an odd tendency we've had for years, or a way of behaving on our own that we believe nobody else would ever even conceptualize, we are all unique in our own special way.
While you may embrace many of these oddities and even go as far as sharing some of them with your peers, there are certain more subtle ones that most of us tend to keep to ourselves. But I'm convinced that many of them are a lot more commonly experienced, and therefore not quite so "weird" for us to do. Whether or not they are healthy, is a whole other issue.
In hopes of making you feel not so alone in some of your tendencies, I've put together a list of 7 "weird" things we all do (but won't admit) in both written and video form:
1. WE PRETEND WE WERE LISTENING
We've all been in that situation where you are talking with a friend and despite your best intentions to be an effective listener, your mind eventually wanders. You start out by listening attentively to the situation they are venting to you about, but 30 seconds later find yourself mentally caught up in what you'd like to eat for dinner.
While drifting off is something that most of us will admit that we do, the part that we don't fess up to is admitting it in the moment in which it happens. We instead give very generic responses like "yeah" or "that's crazy", in hopes that it will be suffice enough to not trigger any further probing which would undoubtedly expose our facade.
2. WE LOOK BUSY TO AVOID PEOPLE
While I'm sure we all hold a level of appreciation (or at the very least tolerance) for everyone we've gotten to know personally in this life, there are always "those people" you'd rather not talk to if you didn't have to. Whether it be because they always talk your ear off, or you are ashamed of the answers you'll give to the questions they are likely to ask you, we'd ideally like to avoid them as often as possible.
But it's when life likes to casually throw them our way (such as when you are about to pass one another on the sidewalk) that we embody another "weird" tendency: we pretend to be busy. We'll randomly draw our attention to something in the complete opposite direction of them, we'll dip into a store we have no interest in going into, or we'll pull out our phones and pretend that there is something for us to check. Anything to get us passed the point where our peripheral vision safely says we are clear from danger.
3. WE EXAGGERATE FOR IMPACT
This one requires little to no explanation. If the road we were driving on had three really bad potholes, we tell others that there were dozens. If the fish we caught was 5 inches long, we gesture our hands to suggest it was at least 8. And if Debbie from finance has asked us the same question 2 or 3 times this week, she qualifies herself as the most annoying person ever.
Exaggeration is a regular part of so many of our stories, yet if anyone ever asks us if we stretched the truth we're quick to defend our honesty. If you have a natural tendency to exaggerate in either a positive or negative way, I can guarantee you that you are not alone. Why this is the case, I have no idea... but I've been writing this article forever now and I'm only on number 3, so I better move on. Get what I did there? ;)
4. WE LOVE BEING A BYSTANDER
How many times have you been driving on a two directional highway (with a divider to separate each direction) and an accident on one of the sides has magically created traffic for travellers in both directions? Is it some sort of mystical wizardry that causes this? Or is it simply our odd obsession with being a bystander?
It's not that we consciously wish bad things upon others, but if we are given the opportunity to stop and take a look, or better yet actively observe something out of the ordinary, we'll never turn down that opportunity. Anything to get ourselves the perspective that so many others will have never gotten the chance to have.
5. WE'RE SUCKERS FOR 'LIKES'
No matter how frequently (or infrequently) you are on social media, we've all been programmed to appreciate every compliment it can throw our way. We'll never admit that we carefully tailor parts of our profile to portray the highlight reel moments of our life only, but we'll certainly do it.
We'll also never admit that we now love that picture of ourselves at the beach last summer more than the one we initially preferred because it picked up 35 more likes than it since being posted.
6. WE CREEP ONE ANOTHER ONLINE
Last night you ran into an old friend you hadn't seen or thought about in years, and now a mere 12 hours later, you're 20 minutes into a stalking session that has led you to looking at pictures of his girlfriend's cousin at her niece's 6th birthday. We've all done this. I'll move on.
7. WE'VE READ SOME OF THE "STUPIDEST" LIST ARTICLES ONLINE
I have no doubt in my mind that this article will join this ever-growing group for some of you, but whether or not it does, we've all read our fair share of "stupid" content online simply because it was presented to us in the low-committal form of a list.
Whether it was: How He'll Be In Bed Based On His Zodiac Sign, 11 Signs She's Into You That You're Not Currently Realizing, or 7 "Weird" Things We All Do (But Won't Admit), we've all read them and they keep being created because of that.
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