Body distance, how to avoid embarrassing situations?
Body distance or distancing is one of the most important etiquette everyone should learn. While most of you may apply this etiquette based on the local social culture.
Yet, many people may fall into an awkward situation, when this distance has not been respected, and embarrass themselves.
This article is going to answer the following questions:
- How long is the professional distance that you should keep between you and other?
- And how to avoid any embarrassing moments?
So, as always bring your cup of coffee, and let’s start,
1. Distancing or body distance:
![](https://nappot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/pexels-photo-5669655-1-1024x682.jpeg)
Body distance for the average person is very important to show respect. For instance, if you observe people that are talking to each other comfortably, you will definitely notice an important space between them.
This private space is considered important to indicate the type of relationship between you and others. Whether it is professional or personal relationship.
Therefore, one of the biggest mistakes that will put you in a silly situation is to cross this distance, with people you know that you are not too close (Professional relationship).
The first reaction you will surely see, is that the person, you are in conversation with, will move backward to maintain their private space.
If you kept insisting on crossing this space, you may find yourself on your own, and everyone will think that you are a creep.
So bear in mind that not everyone you talk with, is your close friend.
How much distance should I keep?
To answer this question, you first need to know that this distance may vary from country to country, North or South, East or West.
For instance, if we talk about Norway, people there are most known of this distancing. Usually, you will rarely see strangers sitting next to each other on a bus.
The distance between work colleagues and formal relationships may vary between 1 to 2 meters. While if you go down to the south of Europe, especially Mediterranean countries this distance will shrink a bit.
The most important thing is to always keep at least one-meter distance between you and the one you are talking to.
You should also be aware that the distance may decrease, in some situations. For example, when dealing with confidential information, the distance can be decreased to 0.5-meter or even less.
2. Touching and hugging:
![](https://nappot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/pexels-photo-7176325-1-1-1024x682.jpeg)
Touching and hugging might not be very popular among Europeans, these behaviors can be misinterpreted and hated.
So, if you are coming from a country where hugging and touching is a normal thing, you may be careful in Europe.
Touching hands and arms is not a common thing in Europe. People will dislike you if you touch them for no reason.
Be careful, some nations in Europe especially, those countries with cold weather, may interpret touching as a violation.
Therefore, you should always AVOID any sort of touching, especially with strangers.
3. Pointing at people:
![](https://nappot.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/pexels-photo-3768876-1024x682.jpeg)
Pointing with your index at people is one of the most hated signs you have to avoid, people in Europe consider this impolite.
If you have the chance to observe, you can see that parents will automatically react if their child is pointing, and you will hear this expression: “Don’t point, it’s rude”.
From this expression you can conclude that pointing is to be AVOIDED, as it is considered impolite.
Unless you do it very much discretely, and for a reason with extra explanation, for example: Look at the blue coat in the window, the one next to the red robe, on the top right.
As a conclusion, Keep distance, No touching, and No pointing.
Thank you for reading, if you like this article, you may want to check
- formal-greetings-vs-informal-greetings and
- small-talk-strategies-formal-vs-informal-small-talk
Picture source: pexels.com