How Do You Handle Embarrassments?

Embarrassments, they’re a part of life, but those little inevitable moments tend to leave you more exposed than if you were actually nude.

There’s this one specific incident from high school that still makes me cringe, yikes! I face planted in the middle of the cafeteria in front of my high school crush (who later became my high school sweetheart). He was very sweet about the whole thing, he came over and helped me to my feet but it was the laughing committee (those kids pointing and laughing) that made me so self-conscious. Questions like, why couldn’t I fall more gracefully? and did my skirt flare up to reveal my Pooh Bear undies immediately began swirling around in my head. I must have relived that moment a thousand times. It was like a phantom limb pain. You know, when the amputation is complete but the terrible sensations still remain. To make matters worst, my friends would playfully tease me about the incident whenever they saw me. I didn’t return to the scene of the crime for at least two weeks. Instead, I spend my lunch hour trying to drown my embarrassment with McDonald’s dollar menu. Even when I mustered the courage to return to the cafeteria, I hung my head in shame — utterly terrified that my peers would begin to snicker about my epic fall (they never did).

Goodness, I was so dramatic back then, but, hey — I was in high school.

How do you deal with embarrassments, do you cower in shame or embrace them? Weigh in.