Certain bodily signals are intended to let you know that a situation is not at all pleasant. You should pay attention to these characteristics.
You are facing a person, everything seems fine on the surface, but something is wrong. You feel it in your posture, your crossed arms, your uncomfortable sitting or standing position, your voice that you hardly recognize. In such situations, your psyche wants to tell you something and uses your body as a messenger: “Something is wrong here, watch out! Or even better: Get out of this situation!”
We all know situations in which we are not feeling well, sometimes we can grasp it in the moment and react accordingly, other times we only realize afterwards how uncomfortable we felt. In fact, just focusing on our body can help us recognize that we’re not comfortable with a situation. In this way we can react to it in a targeted manner, for example verbalising the discomfort or moving out of the situation.
These body signals want to alert you that something is wrong You should pay attention to these body signals: They show that a situation is uncomfortable © kkgas/Stocksy / Adobe Stock
You can tell not only from yourself that you feel uncomfortable with a situation with the following characteristics: If your counterpart sends out one or more of these body signals, you (or something/someone else) seem to be making them nervous. It can help to empathize with the person and offer to resolve the situation.
The strong feeling overcomes you to move
The urge to move is a common sign of nervousness. The body tries to break down the accumulated adrenaline in the body, which is supposed to calm the nerves.
Your hands or feet twitch
In great moments of fear or discomfort, you may experience twitching in your hands and/or feet. If the situation just doesn’t resolve, it can be helpful to get an object to “hold onto.”
Difficulty maintaining eye contact
If you find it difficult to look the other person in the eye for a long time, you may be tormented by fear, nervousness or shyness. The content of the conversation may be very uncomfortable – if the other person does not notice this, this may be the moment to draw their attention to it.
You back away from your opponent
“If you can’t move away, close yourself off as much as possible by turning away, pulling your upper body back, or crossing your arms and legs,” communications expert Alison Henderson told Bustle online magazine. This is a “blocking body language” that we unconsciously use to protect ourselves.
You subconsciously try to calm down
Maybe you’re shaking your leg, maybe you’re twisting a strand of hair around your finger – everyone has different nervous habits. We usually don’t even notice that we’re doing something until we’re asked about it – or we develop an eye for our body signals and their meaning.
What to do when your body sends warning signs
We all know situations in which we don’t feel comfortable and sometimes it may be difficult for us to verbalise this because, for example, we don’t want to appear “weak” or “unstable”. But the fact is: everyone has a comfort zone in which their personal limits are individual. While very intimate and sensitive topics are not a problem for one person, the other perceives them as encroaching. Physical proximity may not be a problem for some, others need their “personal space” around them to be comfortable.
I’m not comfortable with this topic, can we talk about something else please?
The most important thing is that nobody has to “endure” an uncomfortable situation. Rather, knowing your own limits and being able to defend them shows inner strength and the ability to reflect. Of course in a friendly but firm way, for example with statements like: “I’m not comfortable with this topic, can we talk about something else please?” or “I don’t like it when a person gets that close to me. Can we please increase our distance?”
If you know body signals that indicate nervousness and discomfort, you can also recognize in other people much better when a situation is not nice for someone. Because most of the time it is like this: Very few people intentionally want to arouse an uneasy feeling in their counterpart. If you know the signs, you can say something of your own accord.
Sentences like “I have a feeling you’re not doing so well with the topic right now. Do you want to talk about something else?” or “Are you okay? I feel like you’re not feeling well” can help the other person become aware of their own feelings or give them the little nudge to say them out loud.
Sources used: hyperhidrosiscumc.com, psych2go.net, bustle.com