Are people scared of you?

justonemoreperson wrote:It probably has more of an effect than it would for someone who's constantly angry, as this becomes the norm for people. If people expect it, then it's no longer a surprise as their in-built fear response becomes conditioned to it.

I don't agree with that.

Whether anyone's surprised by it or not doesn't matter, it's the potential for violence that worries people and an angrier person (someone who is often angry) is usually considered more dangerous for that reason. Ask any wife of an angry husband, or any parent who has raised an angry child, especially through the teenage years, they'll tell you it's like walking on eggshells because anything could set them off and you never know if today is the day they finally grab that knife and ram it into you.

An angry person can be a walking time bomb just waiting to explode.

(That's often how I feel, and my temper isn't even as bad as some people's I've seen. They just lose it big time - punching walls, smashing things etc. I've done that too, but nowhere near as often. It's much rarer for me to lose control like that)

So the word I'm looking for seems to be "wary" and not "scary".

Maybe it's because I don't give much away irl and so it might be hard for people to know what I'm thinking.

People are wary of what is unpredictable. If you watch people on a train, for example: everyone does the same sort of stuff, but if a nutter gets on and sits there talking to himself, people become wary, because it's not what they expect and don't know what might happen.

The person themselves might not be threatening or appear threatening, but the unpredictability makes people uneasy.

You may appear unpredictable, which would certainly match the "pink-haired, crazy red-light-touting cyclist woman with the urgent bell" image.

I've never thought of myself as being unpredictable but I suppose in a way I am.

Like I try to not do what I know people expect of me.

If someone's purposely trying to antagonise me I'll antagonise them back by finding fun in what they're doing and laughing at them.

I think it's the paranoia and psychosis that maybe a bit scary.