Am I "SAD?"

So, am I "SAD?" No, I don't mean down in the dumps and crying. And I don't mean suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder (i.e., the winter blues) though I did get that every winter I lived in Chicago. No, I mean Social Anxiety Disorder. Some social circumstances cause me angst and I wonder if I'm the only one that feels this way.

For example, you know that situation where you enter a long corridor or hallway and there is someone else coming toward you from the opposite end - only they're a long way off? Then you've got that highly awkward stretch of space and time to cover where you're both converging on each other. Then the anxiety in me begins to build:

• Do I look at them?
• When do I look at them?
• Where do I look at them?
• If I don't look at them where DO I look?
• Do I acknowledge them?
• When do I acknowledge them?
• What if I acknowledge them and they don't acknowledge me?
• Do I know their name?
• Did I used to know their name but have forgotten? (Highly likely for me.)
• What do I do with my hands?
• Do I play with my Blackberry?
• Do I walk faster to get the awkwardness over with sooner?
• Is my fly zipped?
• How can I check if my fly is zipped without looking stupid?
• Is THEIR fly zipped?
• Are there some elevator buttons nearby that I can push to pass the time?

On and on it goes and the anxiety builds until, at last, we pass each other and I'm free to be myself again. Unless someone else enters the hallway! AAAAAGH!