Best Way to Deal with Embarrassment

Walking into the guys’ bathroom! Toilet paper sticking to the bottom of your shoe on the dance floor! Vomiting on your crush!

Most embarrassing moments! I love to read them in magazines. Who doesn’t? They’re funny and, best of all, they happened to somebody else! Admit it, though, you’ve had some of your own. Take a moment to think about a time when you totally humiliated yourself. Is your face red yet? Okay, now take a minute to think about how you handled it. Be­cause how you react afterward is what’s really going to make it worse for you, or make it into—yes—a positive experience.

Sherrie Krantz is the person behind the Web site, Vivian Lives.com. Vivian is a cartoon character whom you follow around in her glam life. And even though she’s glam and hip, she also embar­rasses herself a lot. And Sherrie confesses that some of those em­barrassing moments Vivian faces are based on, yup, personal experience. Sherrie says:

Vivian is very klutzy and has these humiliating moments that you read about on the site. Like she is always walking right out of her shoes and tripping and falling on her face. Or she’s walking down the street, drinking her latte. And people are checking her out, looking at her and smiling, so she’s thinking she must be looking really good. And then she realizes that there’s a hole in her cup and all the drink is spilling down the front of her outfit. Of course, that’s what everyone is smiling about so the joke’s on her.

Here’s what Sherrie says to do in a red-faced moment:

Remember that it happens to everyone. We’ve all been there. Embarrassing moments happen to every single person.

Laugh. You have to laugh. Come on, if this was happening to some­one else, you would be cracking up, wouldn’t you? So laugh at yourself.

Don’t overreact to it. But don’t laugh too hard, or people will think you’re desperate. Don’t cry, don’t run away, don’t scream: “I can never be seen in public again!” Then people will think your goof is worse than it is, and they’ll either laugh at you when you’re gone or feel sorry for you.

But don’t try to act too cool about it. Say that you totally fall on your face and pretend you didn’t do anything. Well, people will be laughing about it behind your back later. Instead, encourage them to laugh with you by saying something like, “Did you see me just fall on my face?!?! Can you believe I did that?!”

Get over it. Don’t keep bringing it up, except maybe as a good story to tell once in a while.

Sherrie says: If you handle your embarrassment well, you come off as someone who:

•           has a good sense of humor,
•           is confident, and
•           doesn’t take life too seriously.