Avoiding looking at faces

My therapist is telling me to avoid looking at people at all because we both agreed that I’m looking at peoples faces to see if they are giving me a disapproving look. It causes insane anxiety basically just walking past people, but since avoiding people’s faces it isn’t getting any better... is this not avoidance in itself?

What do you think of this suggestion he made? Do you think it’s beneficial for me? Personally I feel it’s making me stand out even more because people are wondering why am not looking at them even for a split second and like I said it’s causing me anxiety when I don’t look into peoples eyes etc

Somehow I lost my reply.

I find that to be odd advice, although I've never stared at folks, to see if they disapproved of me. But I used to have lots of trouble looking at people directly. I've learned as I've aged (and as a biological male) to look others directly in the eye, as a sign of confidence, whether I actually feel confident, or not.

I suffer from this, I am too shy to look people in the face, or especially their eyes. I can not meet someone looking at me. I try to , but it feels like very impolite , and I feel I get red in the face very quick. It has been like this since I was teenager.