Being at a meeting and eye contact...

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Does anyone else struggle with this?

When you're in a meeting with people you've never met before, do you silently have a big fight-or-flight thing going on inside?

I say this because I've been to several public meetings with people I don't know at all, and I have had major problems with eye contact. My eyes dart around the room because I don't know these people and I don't know where to focus my eyes. I rarely say anything much at these meetings, as I feel I have little to contribute on my own.

I get the impression that my eye contact can come across as aggressive or confrontational, because I feel as though people are weighing me up. I get nervous, because I feel that I don't fit in.

I'd rather not be physically there and see the meeting through a non-interactive video link if I'm entirely honest.

Anyone else feel like this? If so, how did you deal with it?

That's definitely how I feel in a job interview situation-- it's very stressful trying to answer the questions and make the right impression while inside my mind is saying "Get me out of here!"