How good would you say you are at reading people, and how easy to read do you think you are? Do you find that you often know what other people are thinking, even if you don't necessarily know them very well, or are even your closest friends' minds a mystery to you?
I am absolutely horrible at reading people. I can never tell whether they're uncomfortable, content, or just completely neutral unless their emotions are, like, super obvious. Me on the other hand, I feel like I'm an open book. I express my emotions so openly with my family. I'm a little more closed off around strangers or people that I don't feel comfortable around, but if I get upset, everybody can tell.
I have the talent of reading what people want me to read. It can take me longer than a year for me to detect a social pattern and determine what the subtext of a relationship is. To find that people are hollow or manipulative. Unless it's pointed out to me, it will take me forever to see what's beneath the surface. Even then, I sometimes don't respond healthily to the danger that's near me. I probably just assume people are honest. That's my downfall. It's a harmful assumption.
I’m horrible about it. Partly because of my mild autism and partly because I wasn’t taught body language. Unless you’re explicit with your thoughts, I won’t catch what your intentions are. Offline I think people misread me too. My classmates will talk about how cold and nasty I supposedly am due to rarely talking. In reality, I do care about other people and never have bad intentions. I’m just not the best at getting myself out there when I’m around new people.