Tiana's lens

As with all living things, we face moments where we wish we could just disappear from the face of the earth, move into another dimension, another realm where no one knows us, or a witness to our embarassing moment. To make it worse for you, and probably better for the ‘viewers’ these moments can be recorded or photographed and stored forever and ever and ever.

For an indiviual like myself who is a certified over-thinker, these moments just spell trouble for me with a capital T. I spend days mulling over the scenario, looking at events that led up to the ‘moment’ and my reaction afterwards. I then move on to hypothesizing what I could have done differently, ways I could have behaved or reacted differently, or all together just wishing I had stayed home.

These moments makes us human, and as humans we hurt, we feel depressed, we need love and we never want to feel embarassed. But it happens, and most times we cannot control it.

So, for the next time you find yourself in a pickle or wish you hadn’t gone somewhere or done something in the first place, here’s some tips to help you find a happy place!

Five ways to move past those ‘OMG’ moments

First things first, do not forget to breathe. It might seem trivial or unimportant reading it now. But think back to a moment you had wished the ground would just open up and swallow you, or you wanted to crawl into a dark hole and hide forever.

Do you remember the heaving of your chest, the cold shivers that ran through your body or the heat that rushed to your face? Taking in deep breaths help to calm you down and might probably keep you from further embarrassing yourself.

Try not to defend or argue your position at that particular moment! This is very important to remember, and if you choose to do otherwise you only end up making the situation worse.

You’ve heard of adding fuel to fire right? In that moment, explaining your reasoning or choice or giving some logic only adds more fuel to the proverbial fire. It doesn’t help. It has never helped, I doubt it will ever help.

The more you try to justify your actions the more fun or interesting it will be for the people around and the more stories you will give to those around you.

Accept that you are embarrassed This is an important healing step most people tend to overlook. Yes, it did happen and yes your denial won’t make it go away.

But if you accept how you’re feeling at that moment, the sneers and fun from others become less hurtful.

Remember, you are human And stuff happens. Things do not always go according to our wishes. We cannot control all the elements revolving around us. We cannot erase situations that do not favor us. And we most definitely cannot always control the actions of others.

And that is totally okay.

Some moments we cherish, others we wish we could permanently delete. Do not berate yourself or become annoyed at yourself for ‘allowing’ stuff to happen o you. You are just another human in this vast land; things are bound to happen.

Give it some time The spotlight is not going to be fixed on you forever and ever because of one embarrasing thing that happened to you.

Something else is bound to happen. It will become less funny. With time, it will hurt less. You might even find it funny enough to laugh about it with friends, family members or even use it to break the ice in some certain gathering.

For others it will forever be a sore spot, but it will hurt less and less with the passage of time.

Now What?

So, you’ve followed these five steps or maybe some of them or maybe not. What comes next?

Learn from these moments. There is always some knowledge to gain. If within your power, try not to have a repeat broadcast of the same show.

Share these tips with someone.

And if you ever find yourself witnessing someone’s embarrassing moment, try not to make it worse.

Feel free to share your own ‘omg’ moments!