Checking your reflection in every window at the party means you’re watching the party from outside the glass.

Self-monitoring puts you outside the thing you came for. When part of your attention is on how you look from across the room, you are a spectator at your own evening, and other people can vaguely feel it even if they cannot name it. The awkward part is that ease is what actually reads well, so the thing you are managing improves the second you stop managing it.

Give yourself one check on the way in and then leave it alone. If you catch yourself drifting toward the glass, ask a question of whoever is nearest instead. Attention pointed outward is the fastest way back into the room.