Can you bear the thought of being touched again by a stranger

I'm having my hair cut this evening by my next door neighbour. She cuts my hair: I tidy up her garden.

Physical contact is important for our mental well being. Molestation by strangers excepted)
But it should be encouraged among family members and close friends.
I shall never forget my next door neighbour hugging me the night that our son was killed in a RTA. It brough great comfort.
Animals use body contact to identify and assimilate herd members.
And, your masseuse would hardly be classed as a total stranger. If you have given birth, you should be used tom being touched by others; almost everywhere.
Relaxez vous!

Sussexborn good luck?

@Ginny, IMO it came about because we were so often told that we Brits were ‘cold’ and standoffish, we should be more like the huggy-kissy continentals. And a lot of people seem to think that whatever the ‘continentals’ do is by definition better.

Though I do think the huggy-kissy stuff was always more a southern- than a northern European thing - not sure it was ever rife in Scandinavian countries.

I hope all goes well with your phone call consultation Sussexborn x

No more handshakes for me. I've witnessed so many people skip hand washing after using the public bathrooms. NO THANKS.

Talking of handshakes - I struggle with that part of the church service where we all ‘pass the peace’.

Ooooh errr misses

Touched by a stranger? Depends on how handsome he is.?

Difficult for you Sussexborn hope alls well

No need to worry about being touched at my cancer check up on Wednesday. Didn’t realise it’s a phone consultation at first and was apprehensive about going to the hospital and now I am apprehensive about not going! No pleasing me!

Actually it will be nice to have my grandson sit on my knee and hug me again - even if he is 6ft tall now!

Sense of entitlement I guess. Further to my above post, women always did have a cast iron excuse as to why people should keep their distance, as indeed does everyone else regardless of gender etc.

I so agree, there's far too much hugging. I've seen it on TV where a man is introduced to a couple and he shakes the man's hand and kisses the woman [who he doesn't know]. Why?

I never was into being 'touched' by strangers except professionals who needed to for my own health and wellbeing. I'll continue as I have most of my life and hope this trend not to hug and kiss at random persists. I see the current need to maintain appropriate distance as a godsend to the 'MeToo' movement. They now have a cast iron reason to tell people to keep their distance.

I've just spend a day and a half in hospital for an operation, and was obviously touched by various nurses and a surgeon, all wearing rubber gloves and using hand disinfectant when they took them off, so no, I wasn't bothered at all by it.

A physiotherapist will be wearing gloves and probably a mask as well, but if the though of going worries you, I would advise you to consider how much her treatment contributes to your well-being, or whether you would prefer not to attend for a while longer.

i hate the extreme informality that seems to be de rigeur, or was, nowadays.
people in business or healthcare settings presuming to call me by my first name. even worse imposed hugging by nurses. it would seem churlish to object.
so now, we all have good reason to decline hugging/ kissing, politely but firmly. i do think that often we were brought up with the idea that deferring to everyone else's ideas was polite, and being polite was paramount, and others' feelings were always more important than one's own.
well no. it's taken a long time to change this mind-set. and longer to act a different way. but this current situation gives an opportunity, to just stand back from any attempted hug, and say, no, not me.

We don't do kissing even as a family, can't stand people getting close ad touching you, so the 2 metres is ideal and I'll keep it up!

I don't like my hair being touched, but I can't wait for my lovely hairdresser to get her hands on me.

I’m not a fan of being touched by strangers either. Even as a baby my mother told me I didn’t like anybody but her to hold me.

I love to hug my nearest and dearest though.

It is interesting to see that so many of us do not like the way hugging and kissing all and sundry has become quite normal. So how has it become so ?
My MIL insists on the continental 3 kiss embrace. I hate it and it feels so uncomfortable. Maybe by the time we get together again I’ll have the nerve to refuse it and just a quick squeeze will suffice.
Why do we feel so uncomfortable telling someone that we are uncomfortable ?

A few of my family have 'issues' with being touched by others- so its good for them.

Im worried about you Deedaa

I thought there was to be NO HANDSHAKES???

Looking forward to when it will be deemed safe to hug AC and GC. Not bothered with anyone else. Only kind of "therapist" I will be seeing once safe to do so is my hairdresser. No way would I be getting on a plane.