By Rick Moore
When I was about five years old, my family checked into a hotel room while on a vacation. The sliding glass door to our room was adjacent to the swimming pool. My two older brothers and I decided to race to see who could be the first to change into a bathing suit and jump into the pool. I quickly jumped out of my clothes and was the first into the water. There was just one problem. In my haste to be first, I forgot to put on my swimming suit. Of course my mom just so happened to be filming the whole event. That is one video clip I pray never makes it to social media.
Years ago, I was speaking at a venue which sat 5,500 people. This event was being televised on a world-wide network. My wife Catrina was sitting in the front row. As I began my presentation, she started making hand gestures. I wasn’t sure what her motions meant, but I immediately looked at my pants to make sure my zipper wasn’t open. Thank the Lord it was pulled up. Whatever she was motioning about couldn’t be too bad. Or could it?
Catrina started making the type of motions a third base coach would make when he wanted you to steal from first to second. While trying to stay focused on my presentation, I peaked down to make sure my shoe laces were tied. That wasn’t it. I tried my best to read my wife’s lips, but could not figure out what she was saying. It was as if we were playing a game of charades in the middle of my speech. By this time, others in the audience started looking at her and were picking up on our unsuccessful attempts to communicate.
Not wanting to distract any further, I quit looking at Catrina and just focused on the audience. When the event was over, she met me in the green room and said, “you still don’t see it do you?” She then pointed to the sleeve of my new sports jacket. There it was, a two-inch white price tag, still attached to the sleeve, just like it was when I picked it off the rack in the store. I was so nervous to speak in front of such a large audience, I did something silly I had never done before.
We all find ourselves in awkward or humiliating situations at some point in our lives. It may come from slipping on the ice while trying to skate. It may come from knocking over a shelf of items in the supermarket. It may come from opening a fire door and setting off the alarm. It may come from a fellow employee noticing your socks don’t match. Some people can shake off embarrassment quickly, but if we fear disapproval of others, we can become consumed thinking about our embarrassments. Embarrassment is a highly individualized experience, but it is intensified when others are watching us. When others witness what we have done, there is no denying it. We can try to mask our embarrassment with a smile or nervous laughter, but on the inside we feel like crying.
Embarrassment is considered a self-conscious emotion. It can have a negative effect on our thoughts and behaviors for years, or even for a lifetime. Unwanted nicknames given to us in elementary school from embarrassing moments can haunt us forever. Replaying embarrassing events over and over in our minds may even cause us to believe others no longer accept us. The remedy is simple: Forget the mistake…remember the lesson.
Embarrassment can actually serve a good purpose. It can motivate us to never make the same mistake again. Admitting weakness is hard, but if we stop taking ourselves so seriously and become a bit more humble, laughing at ourselves can be one of the most therapeutic things we can ever do.
Rick Moore is Communications Pastor at Destiny Worship Center.
