Blog #1

As of right now, the most embarrassing moment I can remember is from basketball season of my sophomore year in high school. We were well over half way through the game, playing against the Webster Tigers. A player on the opposing team was fouled while attempting to shoot the basketball. Since he missed the shot, he was given two free throw attempts rather than one if he had made the shot. However, I thought he DID make the shot he was fouled on, therefore giving him ONE free throw attempt. We proceeded to line up for the free throw attempts. Being completely sure that he had made the shot before, I got ready to rebound. The player attempted his first free throw, missed, and I grabbed the ball instantly and began to run down the court as fast as I could. About half way down the court I realized that none of the other players were following me. I stopped, looked back, and saw both my team and the opposing team laughing. They weren’t the only ones that were laughing either. I saw the people in the stands, the coaches, and even the referees were laughing. I was extremely embarrassed. If I could have, I would have bolted out of there. As I look back on it now, I just laugh about it. Obviously, at the time, I felt sheer embarrassment as I wondered “Why the hell did I do that?” Now, it’s just a funny moment to share with people as I look back at it.

Everyone experiences an embarrassing moment at some point in their life, and they will more than likely experience more after that. It’s basically a part of life. People just need to learn to laugh more and relax rather than take things so seriously. This idea could be used with people that have speech anxiety. Obviously just about everyone gets a little bit nervous about speaking in front of a crowd. We worry about if we will make a mistake, freeze up, throw up, or make a complete fool out of ourselves. Humans make mistakes. We just need to learn to laugh at them rather than dwell on the past. We just need to take a deep breath, relax, and get it over with.