Sneezing has always been an issue for me.
My parents taught me to cover my mouth when I sneezed or coughed so my hands would get messy and I'd have to wash them or wipe them off with a Kleenex or paper towel.
As a kid I usually just wipe my hands off on my pants but sometimes it was way too messy for them. I remember several times in elementary school sitting in class doing the classwork and sneezing and I would cover my nose and mouth with my hands and end up with snot all over my head.
It was embarrassing to have to go up and ask the teacher for a Kleenex or towel or something but I did. After that I learned how to hold my sneezes in. That brought all sorts of issues because people would see me do that.
They would laugh or they would act shocked. Friends would tell me your head's gonna explode. People told me that when you sneeze your heart actually stops for a minute and if you're holding it in that's just gonna get worse.
I've read articles about how you shouldn't hold your sneezes in, but because mine are so messy and I tend not to have anything to wipe my hands off with, or my face off with, I just hold them in. I'll squeeze my nose and close my mouth, if my hands are not free, I'll just hold it in as much as I can.
I just don't like the embarrassment that comes with sneezing. Sneezing while hurtling down the road at 60 miles an hour is always exciting. I've had friends who sneeze three times and then just stop.
And they're consistent about it, which is weird. I've had friends that sneeze as loud as they can, had one friend who every time he sneezed he would say, ah shit, that was always funny to me.
Sneezing is messy business.
