Life is full of awkward moments, which is something I learned at a very early age. Like the time in kindergarten I was sitting on the bus with my guy friend and we went over a bump and my face smashed into his cheek, causing him to go on and on about “our first kiss.” Or when my siblings and I were playing hide-and-seek and I hid in the bathroom, and my foot fell asleep and I jumped up slightly and cut my head open on the counter. Or just about every single outfit I wore to school in the elementary school days (and even into the 5th grade…the thought makes me shudder).
Some people grow out of the awkward phase, but we still all experience awkward moments now and then. As the slightly uncoordinated, sometimes too-small-to-be-noticed one, my life has never really transitioned from the awkward to the normal. Even in college, I’m faced with daily strangeness. Like a few days ago when I nearly wiped out in the rain and a guy passing by managed to grab me and keep me upright, while my umbrella poked him in the face. Or running into my high school Spanish teacher in the line for the Breaking Dawn midnight premiere (don’t judge me).
But the truth of the matter is, or at least what I’ve come to realize, if you just embrace what life hands you and grow more comfortable in your own skin, all of this doesn’t matter. You can either get totally weirded out and flustered, or you can laugh it off and use it as joke material for the rest of the day. I’ve chosen to do the latter. So the time I went to lecture with toilet paper stuck to my rain boot (seriously, I thought that only happened in the movies), I just calmly removed it and let it go…until now. Or when my mom paraded me around Target with a bra selection that looked like it belonged in the kids’ department and a group of guys walked by, I just shrugged it off ( a situation made easier by the guys’ own awkward conversation about jockstraps).
Truth be told, as a petite 5-foot babyfaced girl, my life is a magnet for awkward moments. When my younger sister (5 years younger to be exact) was in elementary school, everyone thought we were twins. Now everyone thinks she’s in college and I’m in high school because she’s all tall and old-looking. But, hey, looking younger than you are is a total blessing! It’s cute when you’re a little kid trying to look older…not so cute when you’re 20 and you’re dressing and doing your make up like a 40 year old. If you make how you look a constant embarrassment in your own eyes, you’ll never be comfortable with who you are. Remember, not all of us can or should be super models, but we can’t let that get in our way of enjoying life.
So, basically, my lesson learned that I wanted to share was this: life is full of the good, the bad and the ugly, and we have to embrace it all. Awkward doesn’t have to be bad or ugly, but can be good and provide you and your friends with a huge laugh. Awkward can be quirky, fun and a total advantage with the shy or nerdy crowd at a party. Don’t be ashamed to live a life of awkwardness and sketchy moments. These moments provide a relief to our stress, and a reminder that life is not that serious. Without the awkward, we’d be without entertainment…or at least, I would.