Everything is embarrassing: so what?

When’s the last time you went out to a bar or party and people were dancing? Not the two-step, boring sway everybody does, but real, flailing dancing. 

When’s the last time you posted anything on social media without reviewing it multiple times? 

Our generation is hyper-aware of social media; how could we not be? We are overly conscious of how we’re perceived. One wrong move, and our mistakes can be plastered online. 

Why risk it? Why take risks at all?

We fear embarrassment, and it keeps us from having fun. We fear mistakes, so we do everything we can to not make them. 

When did people stop dancing like nobody’s watching? When did people stop wearing, watching, and listening to what they enjoy because it’s perceived as embarrassing? 

We’re more scared of embarrassment than not being ourselves. We’re more scared of judgment than dimming our light. 

And though it’s unrealistic to think we'll all stop caring about whether we’re embarrassing ourselves, we don’t have to let it show in our actions. 

The embarrassment isn’t going to go away unless you embrace it. 

I distinctly remember in middle school, begging my parents for AirPods because having strings was “embarrassing” to me and my peers. A few years and a hundred dollars later, guess who’s back to strings? Half of the campus, including myself. 

Keep the things you like. It’s not lame unless you make it lame. If we base all of our decisions on whether or not we will be judged, there will be no individuality amongst us. Where’s the fun in that?

How do we prevent this? We need to abandon these ideas and allow ourselves to be eccentric, weird, loud and embarrassing. 

We need to allow mistakes and choices that might lead to judgment. In fact, lean into them. Lean into wearing season-old clothes. Lean into dancing like a crazy person. Lean into embarrassment.