Actual LOL

Mistakes, blunders, fumbles. We all make them. We've all burnt dinner and tried to get into the wrong car and lost our cellphones while talking on them. I once had to admit, in front of a room full of coworkers, that I 100% did not know Stormtroopers (the white dudes in Star Wars) were people. Full on thought they were robots. I also once asked a coworker, in front of everyone, "have you always been that color" after he came back from lunch with a spray tan. His hispanic heritage made that little moment extra humiliating.

What I'm trying to say is that we're all human. We do dumb stuff, A LOT. I personally overachieve heavily in filling my "dumb stuff" quota, but guess what? I'm still alive. I haven't died of embarrassment yet, and if I haven't, no one ever will. Trust me, I have done it all.

We all set these high standards for ourselves, and I think sometimes we feel like when we do something stupid (like cockily insisting people in Mexico speak Mexican) we think all the work we've put into ourselves disappears and we have to start over. We have to prove ourselves all over again. We have to regain approval from everyone who saw the dumb thing, everyone who will hear about it, and well just everyone in general because we suck.

Wrong. Doing something silly, or embarrassing, or wrong doesn't put some kind of mark on your soul. There's not an organization somewhere documenting that you peed your pants or fell down the stairs. It's just you. You are the only one giving yourself a hard time. You are the only one judging yourself. You have all the power, so change the situation.

Laugh loudly. Laugh so loudly librarians from a 50 mile radius flock to shush you. Laugh out loud, and do it with pride, cause guess what? You did a dumb thing and the world is still turning. You're still smart, and funny, and cute, and amazing, and brave. If you saw your dumb thing in a GIF of someone else you would laugh, so don't be afraid to laugh when it's you!

Life is full of so many things that are out of our control, but one thing we always have power over is how we react to those things. Let go of the fear, let go of the shame, and replace it with some lighthearted giggles, starting now!

 My husband will probably not giggle if he finds out I shared this!