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Whether it's accidentally crashing someone's wedding or mistaking a random car for a taxi, we've all made a complete fool out of ourselves at some point in our lives. And that's why you should stop beating yourself about yours. Even if that moment was so awkward, you wanted the Earth to swallow you. The witnesses of your stupid actions probably forgot all about them since they're too busy obsessing about their own past mistakes.
When Twitter user Andy Ryan posted his most embarrassing story, people immediately started responding to it with their own cringeworthy memories. And I mean responding. Andy's tweet has already received over 80K comments and 559K likes, and the numbers keep growing!
Image credits: itsandyryan
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One study says there's a (somewhat) quick way to move past life's most terrible moments. The answer: focusing on everything about the memory except the way it made you feel. "Sometimes we dwell on how sad, embarrassed, or hurt we felt during an event, and that makes us feel worse and worse. This is what happens in clinical depression—ruminating on the negative aspects of a memory," lead researcher Florin Dolcos wrote.
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But we found that instead of thinking about your emotions during a negative memory, looking away from the worst emotions and thinking about the context, like a friend who was there, what the weather was like, or anything else non-emotional that was part of the memory, will rather effortlessly take your mind away from the unwanted emotions associated with that memory. Once you immerse yourself in other details, your mind will wander to something else entirely, and you won’t be focused on the negative emotions as much." In other terms, you take control of the memory. You shape the way it floats through your thoughts. You diminish it.
It's quite different than suppressing the bad memory, which is usually effective only in short term and increases chances of anxiety and depression in the long run. For a lot of people it might also be simpler than other emotion regulation strategies, such as trying to recast the negative situation into a positive one.
"Looking at the situation differently to see the glass half full can be cognitively demanding," Sanda Dolcos, a co-author on the study said. "The strategy of focusing on non-emotional contextual details of a memory, on the other hand, is as simple as shifting the focus in the mental movie of your memories and then letting your mind wander."
#10
Kaiserfranzgirl 5 years ago
Why would someone dunk someone underwater from behind! So dangerous
#17
Demi Zwaan 5 years ago
"Person of restricted growth"? Why would you call them that? They're just short people or dwarves.
#20
frederic eeckman 5 years ago
I'm sorry but sometimes I'm really wondering what's happening with people. Of course it can happen, and I'm not judging that, but you stayed a while, you ate, and you were leaving ? And you did not a single time talk about the camp your child was supposed to go to ?
#28
Bored Moogle 5 years ago
You didn't notice all the other kids were smaller than you? You must have been wondering why there are so many little kids in 5th & 6th grades.
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What do you think ?
Nikki D 5 years ago
My mom has always been so embarrassing that I am practically immune to embarrassment of myself, I used it all up being embarrassed by and for her! For one, she is the LOUDEST whisperer you ever did hear(and you WILL hear her). One time I made the mistake of trying to point out a teacher of mine and she *whispered* "THE BALD ONE OR THE FAT ONE?" I almost died
Emily Weick 5 years ago
Then there was the time when me, and my parents had just arrived in England for a vacation. So we had a B+B sorted out, not too far from the airport. We pulled up to this beautiful old place with hollyhocks growing in front. We got our luggage out and proceeded to walk into this gorgeous place just wanting a nap. There was an old man standing in the kitchen in his underwear, calmly making eggs and rashers. "B+B's down the road, my dears," he politely informed us, and showed us out his back door with a calmness only a British gentleman could muster. I am sure this happened all the time to him. We got to the B+B, found our room and promptly slept for a good five hours.
Noez 🇸🇪 5 years ago
I was grocery shopping and thought I saw my guy friend in the candy aisle standing with his back towards me. I had not seen him or even spoken to him for about a month so upon seeing him like this, all unexpected, I thought I should give him a proper hello. Keep in mind now that this guy had been a VERY good friend of mine (I'm a girl btw) for about 10 years and both him and me knew everything about eatchother..... So I wanted to give him a good and proper and friendly hello. So I walked up to him, got real close, and grabbed his butt as hard as I could while I yelled "Oh how nice to see you and your cute butt here!"..... 😬 Turned out that it was not my friend of many years and I had grabbed a strange mans behind. I left the store and walked home crying and died like 52 times.
Ron Santos 5 years ago
He followed her home, asked her on a date, and they've been blissfully happy ever since! 😁
Load More Replies... Nikki D 5 years ago
My mom has always been so embarrassing that I am practically immune to embarrassment of myself, I used it all up being embarrassed by and for her! For one, she is the LOUDEST whisperer you ever did hear(and you WILL hear her). One time I made the mistake of trying to point out a teacher of mine and she *whispered* "THE BALD ONE OR THE FAT ONE?" I almost died
Emily Weick 5 years ago
Then there was the time when me, and my parents had just arrived in England for a vacation. So we had a B+B sorted out, not too far from the airport. We pulled up to this beautiful old place with hollyhocks growing in front. We got our luggage out and proceeded to walk into this gorgeous place just wanting a nap. There was an old man standing in the kitchen in his underwear, calmly making eggs and rashers. "B+B's down the road, my dears," he politely informed us, and showed us out his back door with a calmness only a British gentleman could muster. I am sure this happened all the time to him. We got to the B+B, found our room and promptly slept for a good five hours.
Noez 🇸🇪 5 years ago
I was grocery shopping and thought I saw my guy friend in the candy aisle standing with his back towards me. I had not seen him or even spoken to him for about a month so upon seeing him like this, all unexpected, I thought I should give him a proper hello. Keep in mind now that this guy had been a VERY good friend of mine (I'm a girl btw) for about 10 years and both him and me knew everything about eatchother..... So I wanted to give him a good and proper and friendly hello. So I walked up to him, got real close, and grabbed his butt as hard as I could while I yelled "Oh how nice to see you and your cute butt here!"..... 😬 Turned out that it was not my friend of many years and I had grabbed a strange mans behind. I left the store and walked home crying and died like 52 times.
Ron Santos 5 years ago
He followed her home, asked her on a date, and they've been blissfully happy ever since! 😁
Load More Replies...
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