Embracing Your Awkwardness ft. The Office

Awkwardness, it seems, is highly undesirable. Mistaking a stranger for a friend, falling spectacularly in public, sitting through the wrong class, making eye contact through the bathroom stall, dozing off in inappropriate places, farting in unfortunate places – these are the everyday situations that promote the popular perception that awkwardness is something that should be hidden from sight, avoided at all costs, or better yet, annihilated mercilessly. Yet, if awkwardness happens to all of us, why should it be so personally awful? Rather than drown in it, why not try to float on it? Here are a few steps on how you may go about just that. 

1. Learn to laugh at yourself.

Try not to take life seriously. At this point in your life, you have probably been in an innumerable amount of awkward situations and you will probably have an innumerable amount of even more awkward situations to look forward to. If you’re making a fool of yourself anyway, you might as well enjoy yourself.

2. Convince yourself that nothing is awkward.

It’s only awkward if you think it’s awkward.

3. Own it.

Next time you want to change countries or be swallowed up by the earth, why not make an awkward situation into an opportunity? Get to know someone new, make someone laugh or learn about yourself. You never know how things may end up.

All in all, if you are awkward, then you are probably weird. If you are weird, then you are the opposite of normal. Why be plain, old normal when you were clearly born to be awkward?  Your awkwardness makes you, you. Embrace your quirks. Awkwardness is beautiful.

All images via Giphy

• awkward
• college
• self acceptance
• the office
• ucsb