Awkwardness

Have you ever felt awkward around someone?

Maybe it happens to you often, maybe not, but for me, it is possibly the worst feeling ever.  I don't feel awkward with people very often, but when I do, it is a very unsettling feeling.

Possibly, I think--the other person doesn't know how to act or what to say around me, but quite possibly, I am also having a hard time relating to that individual or to their circumstances.  Every attempt at conversation or nonchalance is halting and unnatural.

I have been known in these moments to ask strange questions, which I rather wish the recipient had not heard and with great effort try to not allow my pale face to grow red.  OH THE RELIEF when you actually find some way to relate to that person.  It is like a great pressure lifts off...

I have no problem enjoying a comfortable silence between friends, but when there is an awkward silence between two people who barely know each other and here they are in a situation trying to make small talk, yet it seems to come out chokingly almost.  Until you find some sort of equilibrium between your wildlly clashing chemistry ... it is an unbelievably charged atmosphere.

Naturally, awkward conversations are unnatural.