We all have days when our head is in a fog that won’t dissipate: distraction, exhaustion or just a complete inability to clearly predict the consequences of our actions. No amount of caffeine cuts the fog some days, it just turns you into a shakey foghead.
The fog is annoying at best, and downright embarrassing at worst. Ok, there are worse things than a little embarrassment... but embarrassing moments can be bad enough. The embarrassment factor increases substantially depending on how dumb you think you looked and how many witnesses there were (and who the witnesses were in some cases). The dumb factor really embarrasses me. I hate those "Doh!" moments.
Case in point, once as a child on a camping field trip, I spit my gum out the bus window and the wind blew it back into my hair. I had to ride the rest of the way on the bus with gum in my hair as advertising of my dumb move! I was totally mortified and will never forget how dumb I felt.
Growing up didn’t spare me, in fact it got even worse. In this blog I've often referred my early twentyhood fog, and I wasn't kidding. One example? I used to set things on the roof of my car and forget it and drive off. Talk about advertising my own stupidity. I’ve set shoes, rental videos and a subway sandwich up there at one time or another. It wasn’t just me that noticed lettuce and luncheon meat tumbling down my back window! I also had to go into the video store and ask the clerk if anyone had turned in the videos I’d JUST rented. He gave me a puzzled look and asked, "Videos found in the parking lot? Yeah. How did they get there?" He was so obviously rubbing it in!
Over the years the fog has lifted somewhat... I went from "poor visibility" to "mostly sunny with foggy patches." I'm not 100% sure why either. Do I pay attention more, less wallowing in self-focusedness? Better diet? More exercise; for the body and the brain? Or maybe I've just learned the art of damage control.
So here's my theory... You can do your best to prevent or avoid stupid embarrassing moments, but they WILL happen. We’re all human and people aren’t judging us as harshly as we may think for it. Isn’t embarrassment really due to our preconceived notion of how life should go? All you can do is be as aware as your brain will let you be that day and then go with the flow. If you laugh at yourself, people will laugh at you too! I have trouble laughing at myself when I'm not trying to be funny, but I've definitely had a lot of practice and now it's easier. Just think, your friends will have entertaining stories to tell! As an added bonus, it develops character. (I could use a little less character, thanks.) ... But that old addage works, practice makes perfect. With each of these episodes you’ll get better at the damage control.
I challenge you to go out and practice being embarrassed, spill food on yourself at lunch, fall down in front of a crowd, chat with and accidentally spit on your boss today!!!
One more thing... Can I follow you around with a camera? Please?
1 comment:
I think we are embarrassed by these events because we have a certain expectation of ourselves and these events defy that expectation. Just lower your expectations. Spitting on people when you talk is no big deal, we old folks do it all the time!!!!
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