The Awesomeness of Being Socially Awkward

Finally, It happened. The moment I was waiting for and that I already predicted 7 months back has happened. In the post that I published 7 months ago “Try Not to Laugh – It is Serious“ where I specifically mentioned this line at the end – “Now, I’m really afraid what if it’ll happen while giving an interview? There is no way to escape that”

In the post, I talked about why laughing in a serious situation is an extremely bad habit, but it is in no control of yours. It’s just a burst of nervous laughter and your body mechanism that tries to trick you to make you feel better during intense situations.

And, it does trick my brain recently. The incident made me feel socially awkward in front of those ‘serious corporate people’. I cracked a joke and laughed while having an interview and they didn’t smile me back. It was a cringe moment.

I thought I could impress them with my witty humor, but it didn’t work out as I planned. I ruined it. Or, maybe it was the wrong timing.

Yet it was just a small incident as compared to other cringe moments that happen where you feel you’re being socially awkward. It happens a lot, any day, any time at any place. In my case, I just feel socially awkward but I’m not really an awkward person.

And, feeling socially awkward isn’t a mental issue. I mean, I wasn’t gone mad when I cracked a joke and solely laughed while everyone was sitting quietly. It was just a little deviation from the minor social expectations.

Related Post: Your Sixth Sense of Humor

Being Socially Awkward Doesn’t Mean You’re Mad

Forgetting to zip your zipper or yawn at a funeral isn’t a mental health issue. But your brain kinda tries to warn you – “Hey buddy! careful! You’re stepping out of social lines”. And, then you feel you’re being socially awkward.

Even the science says, there are no diagnostic criteria or even a concrete definition to define this weird glitch in the matrix. But I say social awkwardness might be just a feeling & abnormal emotions in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It might be possible that everyone is socially awkward or at least they feel it at one time or another. People define social awkwardness differently. In this perfectly imperfect world, we seek others’ approval about our activities. What we don’t realize is that the person is going to judge you in his own insignificant way. However, there are some hidden unwritten social rules that one must follow to look homogeneous.

Like, I still feel weird when I take a sip of tea or drink in a gathering or at the workplace and hope that someone else finishes the drink before me. And, I don’t understand why I can’t even listen to my own recorded voice. A more recent incident was my tomatoes & onions rolled out from my burger in front of a crowd. And the list goes on and on…, but, I know I’m not the first one who has gone through all this and I won’t be the last either.

Sometimes certain things just don’t resonate with others but it doesn’t mean you were wrong, you just misplaced it and act a bit differently from what we are used to in general.

Let me tell you, those who were wearing masks much prior to this pandemic were called weird and now we all are like them.

We are all Awkward and It’s Awesome

Whether or not you realise that we all feel awkward in our own way and have done something completely different that made us the spotlight.

But it’s awesome. Yes, being socially awkward can be awesome for you. Here are certain things that I realized about people who feel awkward and who are indeed socially awkward all the time.

Socially Awkward People don’t strive for perfection. No one is perfect, it’s an illusion. People who behave differently don’t aim for perfection in a public place, they don’t focus too much on how to stand, how to walk perfectly, how to talk, how to sit, etc. They just strive for excellence for what they are more curious about. And, I think it’s a good thing to do. Ty Tashiro, author of “The Science of Happily Ever After” explains how the ‘culture of cool’ robs the thing that you’re most passionate and enthusiastic about.

Socially Awkward People are Super Focused. People with the ability to deviate from pre-defined social rules are super focused and are able to differentiate between what matters most to them and whatnot. They have uncommoner thinking potential. They are more peculiar about uncool things that are otherwise declared as ‘not so cool’ by society.

Awkwardness makes you better. Awkwardness creates a challenge to survive any social situation. Just think of how many times the public speakers, and comedians have to go through so many weird awkward social situations in the earlier days of their careers. But it is how they polished their social and conversational skills.

Socially Awkward People are more likely to persist through hard times. People who are smart, and intelligent in certain areas are less likely to be socially skilled. They might be bad communicators as well. But the study says that they’re obsessed with the understanding of how things work. They have a tendency to focus. They’re overly rigid. They don’t worry about social pressure and what people think about them and their behavior. This makes them better able to easily persist through hard times, just because they never lower their expectations to fit into the world.

The feeling of awkwardness is common. If you’re not really an awkward person, then you might feel it several times. It’s a common trait among humans. But in reality, people don’t even notice your awkwardness as much as you do. You’re not always a spotlight in the gathering. People generally choose to avoid it.

So if you’ve done something awkward and you are distressed about it, then stop doing so. Embrace the fact about the awesomeness of being socially awkward.

In my case, It wasn’t like Chris Gardener’s interview from The Pursuit of Happiness, but I’m glad that I’m not like them ‘Humorless‘. This world is unique and the people living here make it unique. Therefore, It is indeed tough to face another of your kind with unique emotions and traits.

But you shouldn’t worry, being different is awesome.

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