Embarrassing Moments...

I remember very vividly being 12 years old on New Years Eve. I lived in a foreign country, so the "fire-crackers" that people buy and use in front of their house were a little different caliber than the ones you can buy here in the States. Our family was shooting them off wayyy before midnight, as were other families all around us.



We finally finished up a round of them, and I pleaded with my dad to do just ONE more..."PUH-LEEEEASE??" I blabbered. Of course a father has a hard time resisting his daughter and he said "okay, get two more from upstairs and we'll light those."


Glee was the the highest emotion in my nervous system at the moment and I couldn't even try containing it. I dashed into our house and headed towards our stairs. There was a door in our entry way which you would think was a closet but it actually opened up into the stairway. So in I went, ran to the container of fire crackers, and after grabbing my two favorite (aka loudest and biggest) I ran right back down stairs with these weapons in my hand.


I took each stair two by two and I jumped off the last few steps as I normally did. While I was mid-air I heard a LOUD, THUNDEROUS "BOOOOOOOOOOOM" and I was knocked out. Next thing I remember I was waking up with my entire family around me trying to figure out if I was okay.


"What happened?" Everyone was uttering.


"The fire crackers went off!"


"What?? Where? Are you kidding?" Their disbelief was very confusing.


"The loud explosion! Didn't you hear it?" How can they act like nothing just happened? Firecrackers just went off in my HAND! Helloooo!


Just then everyone started laughing. Not just a chuckle as if they were relieved to see I was okay, but I gut filled laugh as if they heard the funniest thing of the year (which must have topped the list, considering it was the last day of the year).


Then I realized what just happened. I looked at my hand and it still clutched the two firecrackers I had snatched on my way down stairs. And as I felt the throb in my head I realized as I jumped down the last few steps my head hit the top of the doorway that led out of the stairs. My blood curling scream from the hit scurried everyone in to see what happened.


Needless to say, I was MORTIFIED! Nobody else was. Everyone else just laughed, and laughed. You know what? When I think back on it now, I just Laugh also. Right along with them, way back when as if it were as funny as it must have been to see.



It seems that many times we allow ourselves to be controlled by fear of feeling embarrassed. Think about it? We don't talk to the prospects we need to because we're afraid of what they'd think. We don't tell everyone our goals because we fear they might chuckle at the thought. We certainly don't live up to our potential on a daily basis for the unimaginable feeling of leaving our comfort zone.



The part that makes this all silly is that we end up laughing at oursleves in the end anyway! Save yourself the trouble and let go now. Laugh all along the way. Make every moment a fun one and don't give in to the thoughts of others. Make today count without fear!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPPXHiaiKqs