CAUTION: You’re either about to be hyperaware of all the things you do subconsciously, or completely agree with the things you notice people around you doing.
You’ll probably cringe at the flashbacks to that one coworker or friend who does one of these things… and feel sorry for the people dying a little bit on the inside because you know they watch you do it.
But, you can’t help it.
You don’t even know that you’re doing it when you’re doing it.
1. Clicking your pen.
Sitting at work or your desk at home, you might have a pen in hand and get lost in your thoughts, and finally come-to because someone in the other room is tired of hearing, “CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK-CLICK!!!!” over and over and over again. One time I had to physically remove the pen from someone’s hands because it was getting ridiculous.
2. Biting the inside of your cheek.
I do this ALL the time. I’m not sure if it’s a nervous habit I picked up, but I could chew along the inside of my bottom lip or cheeks until they’re literally raw. Like, slowly picking the skin off until it’s so irritated that it hurts to continue. But then I just bite around it. That’s why I like to have gum on me at all times, because that keeps my mouth busy at least for a little while.
3. Picking at your face.
Sometimes you grab at little flakes of skin, or ouchy acne, or the bridge of your nose, your lip, the outer side of your eyebrow, you pull at your eyelashes, touch the cleft of your chin, or press on your wrinkly forehead or glabella (fun fact: this is the space between your eyebrows).
4. Shaking your leg.
I never notice I’m doing this until someone has to grab my leg and hold it down because I was jiggling the crap out of them. It probably starts out as a little toe-wiggle, then a foot-bounce, then a leg-spasm, and then probably an earthquake. I don’t know, the other person always seems upset and acts like it’s an earthquake.
5. Nail biting.
This is a commonly known bad habit. I used to do it back in the day but it gets risky when you’re not sure how fast you’re tearing.
6. Skin biting/picking.
Similarly to nail biting is biting or picking the skin around your nails. This is also risky biz, because you’ll casually be pulling strangling pieces of skin off, and before you know it, you’re like, gushing blood out of your skinless finger. It gets out of hand too quick. But, I still do it.
7. Saying, “OK,” at the end of every sentence.
We ALL know someone who does this, or a version of it. Teachers and professors are the worst at this (or best, depending on how you look at it.) For example:
“OK, so today we are talking about rocks, OK? Sedimentary… OK… Igneous… OK… Metamorphic… OK…”
It’s used as a filler of space between each thought and sentence, but when it’s so repetitive it’ll drive you up a wall. Students do notice, and I promise you, they will make bets and tally up how many times you’ve said it in the duration of 10 minutes.
8. Smacking your gum.
No one likes this!!!! At all!!! Ever!!!!! It’s like pure ear blood listening to juicy chomps of gooey gum in your mouth. Bleh. People who chew food with their mouth open are also the worst. If you’re someone who does this, maybe make an effort towards this habit and smash it out the window.
9. Tapping with your nails.
Girls with a fresh set of “claws” are so prone to this. Sometimes they’re completely cognizant of the little tippy-tappy sounds, but they like it because they’re showing off their new acrylics. I’ve even heard it’s a satisfying sound because the sound reflects a good set of nails. Good for you! But the rest of us are side-eyeing you hard.
10. Humming with your headphones in.
You don’t even realize it because you’re so tuned into your music. You could be totally jamming, but the people around you only hear high- to low-pitched, “mmmm,” noises that don’t sound too melodic and probably don’t resemble any song they’ve ever heard.
11. Twisting the rings on your fingers.
A silent habit, but still something you find yourself doing. I definitely do this, on top of twisting my earrings around in their holes, and adjusting the clasp on my necklace to the back of my neck.
12. Playing with your hair.
Running your fingers through it to get out imaginary knots, curling it around your index and middle finger then pulling it out and curling the same piece again, shaking it to pick up some volume, pushing your bangs out of your eyes or off your forehead, adjusting your hair tie or headband, stroking your ponytail, fixing your part… the list goes on.
13. Rocking in your chair.
It’s better to catch yourself in the act before your teacher, or worst yet, your mother catches you doing it. “Do NOT rock on my chairs!” I’ve gotten this spine-tingling tone enough to break that habit fast.
14. Talking to yourself out loud.
This is either really funny or really embarrassing to catch yourself doing. My old roommates and I laughed about how often we’d be talking to ourselves with other people in the room, and wondering if they thought we were crazy. Sometimes you just need a little heart-to-heart with yourself or a little pep talk out loud.
15. Zoning out.
This is something you definitely don’t realize you’re doing until a significant amount of time has passed and you have no idea what either your teacher said, your priest said, or your boss said. It’s so easy to fade into your own thoughts, though. But at least 9/10 times, it’s more interesting than what you didn’t listen to.
16. Clearing your throat.
It’s more than coughing up a loogy when you’ve got a cold. You kinda use it as a buffering device as you think of the next thing to say, like maybe in a presentation or uncomfortable conversation. Most times, you don’t need to clear your throat, you just do it on autopilot.
17. Interrupting others mid-sentence.
Maybe you just have a lot to say, but it’s a little off-putting to never get a word in edgewise. For instance:
“The other day I was at the store and-,”
“YES, I went there too and got this really cute bowl on sale!”
“Oh, okay. Well, anyways, I was in the bread isle-,”
“Oh my god, have you tried those new bagels? I got some the other day and they’re to die for.”
“No. But, like I was saying-,”
“I usually get the off-brand kind but this time I just totally splurged, ya know?”
“Mhm. Oh, shoot, I gotta go.”
18. Playing the same song over and over in your head.
This is one of the hardest things to overcome. Once the song plays on the radio or someone sings it out loud because it was stuck in their head, it’s just over. The seed has been planted. It always seems like it’s the most unordinary songs, too, that latch onto your brain. You never see it coming: you could be bopping to some rando song, or listening to it vaguely in the background, and like 3 days later you’ll still be nodding your head to the beat of it.
19. Laughing without cause.
This is comparable to clearing your throat. Nothing is probably funny, but you’re laughing to fill some awkward gap of silence or discomfort.
20. Rolling your eyes.
The perfect “tell all”. You can visibly see someone’s irritation or discontentment with a simple flutter of their eyelids. It’s the most common in angsty teenagers, and occasionally, my dad.
Hopefully you’ve recognized a couple things you’re prone to doing without having someone tell you in a fit of frustration. If you’re someone who observes another person doing some of these things… hang in there, buddy.
