I have always found eye contact challenging. I couldn't really do it at all, until I was in my late thirties. Even now, when I play the keyboard I must have my back to the audience. At Uni, I nearly blacked out when I was walking to the harpsichord at my final recital. It was all the eyes, millions of them, following your every move. I am intensely uncomfortable when I'm the centre of attention, but I suppose that's part of the same thing. I don't like being looked at, particularly by someone I don't know.
I cope much better with eye contact now, so well in fact that people don't realise I have issues with it. I have my last job to thank for that. I hated the place, but I left with a useful skill. I went through the company's management trainee scheme. One module was all about body language and eye contact. I worked very hard at the eye contact and finally cracked it, and then incorporated it into my daily life. I still haven't sussed out the body language stuff yet.
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