I’m not sure how to let go of this anxiety and feel more at ease in public when I am out alone.

It is mostly white and asian women who do this. I feel it’s really unfair for them to have the power to make me feel out of place / unwanted.

I am always hyper aware of my body language and positioning relative to others. While in public I am constantly thinking about how I can look less threatening and I feel uncomfortable in my own skin while out. As a result, I think I am looking at people more intensely to gauge their reactions.

For context, I am a dark brown, attractive girl in my 20s. I dress well, quite chic and often wear designer bags and clothes. I often have makeup on. I don’t think it’s that I look sketchy, it’s just that people see dark skin and judge right away. Unfortunately in the city I live in most all of the homeless people are black so I even catch myself being on guard around other black people on occasion.

I’d appreciate any tips on letting go of the anxiety so I can feel relaxed in public and 100% myself. I asked a few black friends and they said they’re pretty aloof and don’t pay attention to this.

a few examples:

• I’m walking down the street, someone passing me will look up and see me and either put their phone away, grip their bag, or eye me until we pass as if to watch for any sudden movement

• when I join a line at checkout or for a bathroom, someone hides their phone or moves their cross body bag to their front side or back side so it’s further than me. once I was in the check out line at zara and turned around to see how much longer the line was. the woman behind me was busy texting and quickly put her phone away and started eyeing me