Everybody has those moments. You trip up the stairs in front of strangers, you walk right into a push door that is actually a pull, your petticoat falls down in front of 100+ people while dancing… all have happened to me.
Your face gets red and you feel like curling up in a ball and disappearing until the laughter has passed. We all have those embarrassing moments in life, they're unavoidable. But there are ways to make those embarrassing moments less embarrassing! It just takes a little practice!
1. Laugh through it.
It's so much better when you can laugh at yourself. Don't let your friends have the satisfaction of teasing you by themselves and making you even more embarrassed, as true friends might do. When you can make fun of yourself the experience becomes funny and better for everyone
2. Dramatize the moment!
Gasp loudly, announce "I'M SO EMBARRASSED!" and cover those blushing cheeks with your hands. Laugh hard. Pay more attention to dramatizing than what your friends or others are saying. Just shout random phrases like "Oh no!" "Oh my gosh!" "I can't believe that just happened!" until the moment has passed.
When you do this, your friends might ask you to please be quiet because you're embarrassing them with the scene you're making, therefore the embarrassment is now theirs to deal with. You can sit back and relax, as they find the tables reversed.
3. Pretend nothing happened.
Trip up the stairs, just keep walking. Leak of the bladder, crap the seat was wet! Petticoat falls down, toss it to the side and keep dancing. When you just keep going about your business as if nothing happened, people tend to follow suit. They might even praise you for being so nonchalant about what happened.
Blaming it on something else (if you're not obvious about it) usually works. If you continue whatever you're doing without bringing attention to any embarrassing happening than usually you can avoid an embarrassing moment entirely.
There are those moments that you simply can't hide like taking a fall, running into a sign, or my example of the petticoat, but when you can just keep going as if nothing happened, all will be fine and the moment will pass.
4. Make it a joke!
If you trip and fall, just hop up and say "yep gravity is still working!" If you run into a door/sign/anything say "was that there before?!" or "dang still can't phase through stuff." If you can find a way to make someone laugh at a joke instead of what just happened, the embarrassing moment passes so much quicker. They usually forget about teasing you while laughing at your joke.
5. Take a deep breath.
Just don't let it embarrass you. Take it like a pro. This isn't the first and it won't be the last time you embarrass yourself. So let them laugh, let them tease, you've got this. The moment will pass and life goes on, only now you've got a new funny story to tell.
