ok, I´m not a “hug” person

I am basically a cat!

“A dark-haired woman in her underwear holding a black and white cat” by Milada Vigerova on Unsplash

look at this photo…

look at the cat´s face…(does he look happy?)

that is my face when I have to hug people…

don´t get me wrong! I like people (most of them), I like to know people (most of the time) and I care for people (always!).

I am just not a “hug person”!

“Woman cuddles a cute cat in her arms outside” by Japheth Mast on Unsplash

Ok, I will explain better.

I like human contact, I like to hug my friends, my love ones but you know when you are meeting a person and they come to hug you? for me that is a bit scary…

I truly believe that touching is something that creates intimacy between people. So if I´m getting to know you, I am a stranger to you, I will shake your hand. Hands are more like a “public domain” part of you, it is not an intimate part, so it is ok to shake hands.

If I´m getting to know you and we have friends in common, MAYBE, I will not look weird if you try to hug me, but even so it is still a bit scary.

“A couple is embracing at Solana Beach.” by Christiana Rivers on Unsplash

I am Brazilian and in our culture we hug, we even give two kisses in the cheeks when meeting new people but this was always something that was not so natural for me.

I always feel a bit awkward when meeting new people and I feel like I don´t know what to do.

I feel like I am a cat.

“Close-up of a sleeping white and brown tabby cat” by Alexandru Zdrobău on Unsplash

just like a cat, I´m caring, loving with people, cute :) and like to sleep!

but also…I need my space, my time and I don´t give a lot of intimacy to anyone.

do you know when you meet a cat and sometimes the cat needs time to get to know you before letting you cuddle with him/her?! that is me! and sometimes if you try to get the cat when he doesn´t want you to he will just run away from you…that is also me!

like I said, touching for me creates and means intimacy and for me it takes a bit of time to be intimate with new people. Of course, after a while I get more comfortable with touching and hugging…

maybe I´m a bit antisocial, maybe I´m just a bit weird…but at least the people that I hug knows that when I hug them means something, means comfort, means intimacy, means caring…

Photo by Kaitlyn Baker on Unsplash

maybe I need a “hug course” or to learn how to be more open to new people…it is hard but I´m sure that I can work on it…:)