Mara Lewis
It has happened to everyone: you’re five years old, in kindergarten, and you walk up to your teacher and accidentally call her mom. You immediately blush with embarrassment, and run away on the verge of tears. At such a young age, it is likely that you haven’t yet been exposed to many awkward situations. Well, congratulations, this is your first of many.
Awkward is a commonly used adjective marked by or causing embarrassment or discomfort. It is often caused by an ungraceful or unskilled performance. Awkward is any instance outside of the norm that is painstakingly insufferable while you’re in it but something to laugh at in the future. Awkward is everywhere around you, and all you can do is try to avoid it.
It is, in the truest sense, the epitome of a middle school girl: the days of braces, first crushes, starting to shave and buying your first bra. That was all just, awkward.
Awkward situations can happen anywhere. In school, awkward situations happen on a day-to-day basis.
The most common is the “hallway moment.” You go to the bathroom during class, so the halls are fairly empty. You’re walking in the overpass, and you see an acquaintance further down the hallway. You’re not close enough with the person to start a conversation, but you know his name, so the appropriate thing to do would be to say “hello.” If you say “hi” too soon, you risk having a significant amount of time when you continue walking, trying to avoid eye contact, in total silence. However, if you say “hi” too late, then you risk saying “I’m good, how are you?” after you already passed the person.
You have to figure out the perfect time to say hello, and for the few seconds leading up to the hello, you must act as if you don’t see the person at all. But I assure you, he will be doing the same thing.
If you’ve mastered the “hallway hello”, don’t get too confident, there’s more to come. Still in the same hallway, you pass another person. She waves and says “hello.” You’re flattered that she’s so enthusiastic to see you, so you greet her with an equally excited response. However, you realize she isn’t looking at you; she’s looking at the much less socially awkward person walking directly behind you. Awkward.
But the awkward moments don’t end in the hallway. Let’s relocate to senior lot. It’s the beginning of lunch, and you’re heading towards senior lot. You’re by yourself, and you get to the parking lot. You don’t know what car your friends are in, so you walk around aimlessly trying to find them while simultaneously trying to make it look like you have a destination.
At the end of lunch, you leave to go to class. On your way out of senior lot, you casually use the window of a car as a mirror to check yourself out, only to notice that there are people sitting in the car. Awkward.
Awkward moments go well beyond the school day. Awkward is when you’re texting your friend about someone else, but accidentally send it to the person you were talking about. Whether it’s about the cute boy you were eyeing from across the room or the friend who you were mad at, there’s really no cover up for this one. In this case you just have to embrace the awkwardness because there’s no turning back.
Awkward is the long pause in a conversation, especially with someone of the opposite sex. Awkward is calling someone by the wrong name, and then acting like you were really talking to someone else. Awkward is leaning in for a kiss when the other person was only expecting a hug. Awkward is when someone tells you something, and you have to pretend you didn’t already know, because you saw it on Facebook earlier.
The truth behind awkward situations is that nothing is actually ever awkward at all. In reality, an awkward situation only becomes awkward once the people involved recognize it as awkward. The only thing that is actually awkward is the word itself. So the next time you find yourself in an awkward situation, try to avoid recognizing it as awkward. Because well, that’d be awkward.
