Personal Space

[Drusilla]

How much personal space do you need and where do you draw the line between interest and intrusion?

[lindapinda]

Drusilla,saw your answer in the addictive post! and you're still on here lol !!...I think,regarding your question,that its one of those things,that your personal antenna,suddenly kicks in,and you just know!

[happy_face]

For me it depends on the person and what mood I'm in. With friends the personal space is wide open to everyone and colleagues can come pretty close too but strangers on the bus are best kept at a certain distance. But if I'm in a bad mood then the person standing behind me in the queue at the supermarket checkout can get me really annoyed if they stand to close.

The same goes for sharing personal stuff

[MangoPete]

physical personal space is about 15 inches away from you when you are talking.
There is also a perimeter of 2 - 3 ft depending on you as a person, for stangers.
Some just have the 15 inches between them and the other person. it depends if you know them and or like them.

However, you are your own person, some people you allow into your 3ft area others you want to keep out
arms bent and raised to the other persons chest height with your palms out facing them should be all the rebuttal you need.
Otherwise a strong NO while raising the hands is enough. After this we are talking about physical contact, but make it good and hard so if need be you can get away.

eyes with fingers nose with heel of hand , shin with toe and nuts with knee or lift and twist.
Tha dampens the ardour.
a cheap perfume spray is also always handy and someone who can't see will find it very hard to catch you.

if its emotional space or someone, a man or woman hasling you be firm in your request for them to desist or you are not interested and do not enter into a conversation with them and keep repeating your request firmly. then the hand technique .
Hope this helps

[boobesque]

i need quite a lot depending on the person, if its a friend or member of my family i am ok, but if it is someone i dont know i get very uncomfortable, just after i had my little boy the midwife came round and kept rubbing my back, i just wanted to shout at her to get off me! instead i spent the whole 30 mins squirming! ew

[WendyS]

Depends on your personality and your mood, I guess. Some individuals can't deal with too much of their own company and need to be surrounded by others all the time. I've often noticed that these individuals are often more discontented within themselves while those who are happy in their own space and company can have as much space as they like and still not feel lonely.

As for intrusion, unless you know somebody well I guess it's better to back off from asking intrusive personal questions, or if you're in somebody's home, not to go walking uninvited into other rooms, opening their cupboards and generally treating the place as if it were your own.