At one time or another everyone has had, or will have, an embarrassing and awkward situation happen to them. It will either be you, or someone close to you. There’s no getting around it. It’s just one of those little gifts we receive from a Universe that has a sense of humor …
The important thing to remember is, people will get over it. Let’s be honest. We’ve all been in a similar situation at one time or another. No one is immune.
There are two things we can do. I’ve seen both reactions in action and they’re almost as funny to bystanders as the original embarrassment:
We can pretend it didn’t happen and avoid it altogether.
We can confront it directly.
Pretending something didn’t happen won’t make it go away —and by hoping no one noticed, we’re only fooling ourselves. 99% of the time, they saw it, heard it, or smelled it.
What’s fun is watching a guilty child’s reaction. They don’t realize, if they’re going to use the “pretend it didn’t happen” reaction, they should keep their eyes to the front and their facial expression neutral. You can spot them right away. They’re compelled to turn and look everywhere to see if anyone saw, heard ... or smelled their infraction.
… they might as well hang a sign around their neck. “I did it! It was me!”
The best way to handle embarrassment is to confront it head on with humor, at least when we’re the one who did it. We sure won’t impress our friends, relatives, or anyone else, if we use humor to point out their awkwardness.
We don’t have to be a professional comedian to use humor. All we have to say is, “Awkward.” Truth be known, we’ll probably be admired for our courage, if we just own up to it as soon as it happens.
By showing we’re able to handle uncomfortable feelings, we actually minimize any negative way others might view us —I’m sure it will always be less negative than how we view ourselves ...
Just say, “Awkward” …
Poet/Writer/Author of 5 books.
Quora Top Writer 2018.
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Thank you!
Thank you for this post.
Oh, I know I've been there, probably more than once! And probably when I was a teen.