Do strangers ever randomly ask you if you're okay?

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Does this ever happen to you? Total strangers randomly approaching you as you're walking around to ask if you're okay - when everything's fine?

This happens to me with some frequency. I'm not sure what makes people do this, exactly. There might be other reasons as well - maybe I look spaced out or something? I don't know - but I think at least sometimes it has to do with my gait - they think I'm injured or something.

This one time two missionaries came up to me while I was walking around my college campus and asked me if they could pray to Jesus for me to be "healed" since I was "limping." My protestations that this was just how I normally walked didn't slow them down...and they went ahead praying for me to be "healed." I was so taken aback that I just awkwardly stood there, but it made me really uncomfortable and kind of weirded me out.

Most of the time the strangers aren't so aggressive or rude - they generally seem just seem concerned. But it makes me uncomfortable and I wish they wouldn't do this. I don't know how I'm supposed to respond. So, does this sort of thing ever happen to you? How do you react if it does?

I get strangers asking me this, all the time. "Are you okay? You seem sad." "I'm very happy, and my face is like this because I look like Mick Avory. I'm not depressed and I'm not going to cry."

The more people I meet, the more I love my dog.

Yeah sometimes strangers ask me why I'm sad too. Once a homeless guy playing a guitar told me that I needed to "cheer up." It really throws me off when people do this, because a good portion of the time I'm actually in a happy mood.

I don't understand what would possess someone to go up to a stranger to ask if they're okay. ?? unless they were in obvious physical pain and they looked like they needed help - like they'd just tripped and fallen hard but weren't getting up, or something....

Sometimes, but mostly people if they ask me a question random strangers they say "its OK im not going to hurt you i was just asking a question" "really i'm not going to hurt you" then they go away, im not sure why mabe i look like a terrified but i dont know.

Yeah this happens to me. I guess many NTs assume having an expression is only normal if you're talking to someone. My face often reflects my thoughts, unconsciously.

Yeah, I have gotten this many, many times, too.

I mean, I can be the furthest thing FROM sad and get this from somebody! And when you tell them you're NOT SAD or DEPRESSED or ANGRY or WHATEVER, they keep going ON and ON about it as if they didn't hear A WORD you SAID! And they want to give you advice on how you should live your LIFE and you get this compulsion to go SHEESH!! !!

When I am in the middle of a mini meltdown, people ask me if I am OK sometimes. It's kind of a long story, but once when I was at a train station, this attendant asked if I was OK because I was having a mini meltdown. I said I was and he said "don't tell me you're OK".

All the time! People I know, too. It's because we look so serious, and we're always thinking.

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I do this all the time and I'm embarrassed that I've been caught. Some people equate this with mental illness because you are clearly having some sort of involved discussion in your head if your expressing it on your face. I walk with my face down most of the time - I'm not sure if I've always done that or if I do it because of the unprovoked expressions.

That's silly that they equate it with mental illness. I have a mostly visual mind, and a near perfect memory, so my internal thought processes are often as detailed as external things going on. I'm a pretty well balanced person, never been in any sort of therapy. I try to consciously control my expressions more now, but I can't help it sometimes if I'm really deep in thought

I used to get this a lot too, but very rare nowadays (I'm in my 30s, and was diagnosed 10 years ago). Back in the 90s, before my diagnosis, I remember vividly when I was 19 going in for an interview at a Red Lobster for a chef position. The interviewer asked me like 4 times "are you ok?" "are you sure you're ok?" and I knew I wasn't drunk or stoned (I don't do those) or felt like passing out, so finally I slammed my fist on the table and yelled "YES!! ! YOU'RE DRIVING ME F*&%G CRAZY!!" He looked at me shocked and then reverted to a look that could only say "okaaaayyy...I guess this interview's over." I stormed out w/o saying another word. That was in 1994 the years Aspergers was identified but no doctor could tell me that, insisting I had anxiety disorder & ADHD.

LOL - for me that's always! I always have running commentary in my head. If there is nothing to focus on, my daydreaming fills in. I was once put on Zoloft for seasonal depression. Turned me into a zombie - my head was silent. Not a sound. Not a thought. A big silent void. I ran screaming from that! If people get confused because of a few out of place expressions, I'll live with that over the alternative!

yes. lots of times.

i've even been told i was crying when i was not.

How do you know if your face is reflecting your thoughts unconsciously? I'm not sure if I do that or not. I know that sometimes I'll, say, smile or laugh at something I'm thinking about though. But is that the same thing?

Yes, sometimes strangers ask me if I'm okay. It makes me wonder if I really am okay or what I may be doing that makes them think that I'm not okay.

I think "I was okay until you asked me that."

Yeah, sometimes that wall looks pretty inviting...