By Cas Hinds
I tend to sweat when I get nervous. First the bottoms of my feet get damp in my socks, making my sneakers uncomfortable. Then it’s my palms. This little ecosystem forming around my fingers making them sticky and wet. Shuffling cards in my hand becomes tough. I don’t know when I started shuffling my hand as a habit. I just saw the cool kids do it, and now I can’t stop. It helps me think, I think. I just flick the ends instead of shuffling. It doesn’t help.
I get nervous when I think I might win. My body is being flooded with hormones, chemicals, and aimless thoughts. It’s some activation in the brain linking me back to the first woman scavenger from the Neolithic period. I should feel powerful, but it’s horrible. Also, I googled Neolithic and it’s the farming era not the hunter gatherer era. I meant the Paleolithic period. Anyway, these are the kinds of things that might run through my head as my body goes into fight or flight.