Three of the Most Embarrassing Moments of My Life and How I Lived to Tell the Tale

If you’ve ever met me before, you know that I am a magnet for embarrassing situations. Whether it’s tripping over the sidewalk on the way to class or saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, I’ve mastered the art of awkwardness and become a pro at taking every embarrassing moment that comes my way in stride. If there’s one thing I’ve learned after years of accumulating tear-jerking stories that would put Amy Schumer to shame, it’s the ability to find humor in my mishaps and constantly grow from the absurd situations I find myself in. Here are a few of the most embarrassing things that have ever happened to me, and how embracing the embarrassment has given me the confidence to do things I never thought I would have in the past.   

1. I think we can agree that the summer between middle school and high school is a tough time for everyone. I’ll tell you right now that it was a very tough time for 14-year-old Katie. Embarrassing story short, I was innocently messaging a boy I knew from middle school on Facebook when he asked me how far I had ever gone with a guy before, and I confidently replied that I had gone to Maine with my dad when I was younger. This was obviously not the response he had been hoping for, but I’m sure my reply was telling enough for him to come up with an accurate answer on his own. Once I was struck with the realization of my misunderstanding, I was met with mortifying embarrassment. How would I ever redeem myself from this situation? 

After a few weeks of feeling embarrassed and keeping it a secret, I decided it would probably be a funny story to tell some friends at lunch. After I told them what happened, we almost peed our pants from laughing so hard. It was the best response I could have received – laughter. I thought it would be funny to tell my family what had happened a few months later, and they thought it was the funniest thing they’d ever heard. After telling the story a few more times, I realized that embracing embarrassment and being able to take a step back from a situation to see it in a more humorous light was a hell of a lot better than tearing myself apart over some silly misunderstanding with a boy I’d never talk to again. 

That was one of the best realizations of my life. 

2. Another thing most people know about me is that I am prone to falling. I have fallen so many times in my short lifespan I am truly shocked I have yet to break a bone. No, my falls usually end in skinned knees and unavoidable embarrassment – the key to recovery, I’ve learned, is getting back up and brushing myself off, both mentally and physically. 

One of the most humiliating tumbles I’ve ever taken took place when I was a junior in high school. I decided to go for a quick jog around the block one afternoon, and it did not end in as optimistic a manner as it had begun. After jogging for a total of three minutes down the road, I turned my head to wave at a neighbor sitting on his front porch when my foot caught on an uneven break in the sidewalk and I face-planted onto the concrete right in front of him. I do not use the phrase face-planted lightly, as the next morning I woke up with a black eye and was met with concerned looks in the school hallways for the remainder of the week. But again, from this mortifying social mishap, I came to the realization that public humiliation is fleeting, and just like the black eye I received that afternoon, the embarrassment I felt disappeared in a few days and I had yet another hilarious story to tell. 

A funny thing happens when you realize your own perception of a situation is the key to how other people will react to it – you begin to take chances you never would have imagined taking. When the fear of making an embarrassment of yourself disappears, because ultimately you’re the one who decides what you will or will not be embarrassed about, there is nothing holding you back from doing everything you’ve ever wanted.

3. The last embarrassing tale I’m going to share is one that happened here at Florida State University on Landis Green. A few friends and I were sitting on the grass, chatting about our lives while we watched dogs chase tennis balls and people make their way to class. It was a classic college scene. Then, every dog-lover’s dream come true: a puppy came up and stood beside me. Elated by my luck, I started to pet the puppy that had chosen me to befriend. Mid-stroke, I felt a warm liquid running down my back and realized that I was being peed on in public by a stranger’s dog whom I had just been overtly ecstatic about petting. By the time I moved away, the back of my shirt was soaking wet and there was nothing that could be done except for me to accept the fact that I was soaking in urine and 20 minutes away from my off-campus apartment.  

The owner of the dog was horrified, and offered me her crewneck to change into. All I could do was laugh in disbelief at what had just happened and graciously accept the clean article of clothing she handed me. My friends and I ran to the nearest bathroom where they helped me wipe the urine off my back after I bundled up the peed-on shirt and threw it into the trash. All of us were trying to contain our laughter. Of course something like this would happen to me. But hey, I got a free Florida State sweatshirt out of this whole ordeal so I like to think that I came out on top.

Sometimes there’s nothing you can do to avoid embarrassing moments in life, as I am reminded time and time again, but you always have a say in the way you choose to react to those moments. I always try to find the humor and embrace the embarrassment I encounter in life, and would wholeheartedly advise others to do the same. 

• awkward
• college
• embarrassing moments
• falling
• fml
• FSU
• funny stories
• high school
• landis green
• middle school
• puppies