It’s been said, “It’s only awkward if you make it awkward,” and I for a fact truly make situations awkward. You could say that it comes naturally, or you could say that I try. For me, it really depends on the situation. Making things awkward tends to be fun because some people react to the same situations completely differently than others. I tend to make situations awkward without trying, but if you really want to try, here's a funny "how to" article to help you out.
Now, different types of situations require different ways to be awkward. You would think that just making something awkward would be easy, but there are some skills you need to have to be able to succeed. If you are just an awkward person in general, then you’re a step ahead of others; if you’re not an awkward person in general, you have to start pretending that anything someone says is super weird and it makes you uncomfortable. Secondly, if you don’t have a natural sense of humor, you need to start pretending. Finally, you need to be able to step outside your comfort zone and be alright with it.
Point out how awkward the situation really is (even if it's not).
The first and most common way to make a situation awkward is to inform your friends how awkward something just was, when in reality you were probably the only one feeling awkward. But congrats, because now you made them feel the same way.
Bring out pictures from said "awkward stage/years."
Everyone goes through an awkward stage. More times than not, you realize when your awkward stage was when you go through older pictures. You find yourself asking your parents why they allowed you to go outside looking like that or why they thought that haircut was "cute." Your parents are bound to show either your friends or your boyfriend/girlfriend those wonderful pictures you tried to keep hidden for so long, but obviously failed in doing so.
Hold the door for someone behind you.
You might be asking yourself, "What's so awkward about that?" Well, let me tell you, it's very nice of the person in front of you to hold the door for you, but when you're a good five feet behind that very nice person, you find yourself having to jog a little bit just so you don't have to let them wait for you. It's a nice little awkward jog, of course. It gets even more awkward when you weren't actually planning to travel through said door so you have to wave them off which not only is awkward but makes you feel like a terrible human being.
Press all the other buttons in the elevator, then get off.
If you try this handy trick, beware, just in case you ruined this lovely person's day by making them late to their super important meeting by pressing all the elevator buttons. Nobody ever said making situations awkward was a safe thing to do. (This is clearly an intentional awkward situation.)
Superglue a coin to the ground.
Believe it or not, my sisters did this to me in our garage when I was younger and I did everything my mind could think of just to pry up that quarter that was definitely calling my name. So if you do this in a public place, just sit back and watch. (Again, clearly an intentional awkward situation.)
Wave and/or smile at a person you thought was someone else.
You never realize it's not actually the person you were wanting to wave and/or smile at until after you've already done it. At that point you just have to either pretend like you meant to do it or just get up and walk away. If all you did was wave, pretend like it was a dramatic instance of brushing your hair behind your ear. (More times than not this is not an intentional awkward situation.)
If you're naturally awkward, I give you my condolences because I know exactly how you feel. If you're not naturally awkward and want to spice up your life a little bit, have at it, it makes for good times to look back and laugh at. Either way, good luck!
