Funny Little Moments

Have you ever been at a person’s home where you have been given something to eat, but now you have finished your treat and are still holding the wrapper or remains unsure what to do with it so you stuff it in your pocket?

Or perhaps this happened at a party, event, or some other social occasion. Most people would just go up to the host or possibly just anyone to ask where the garbage can is. Oh what a simple life those people must live.

I remember as a kid I would just give my scraps to my mom, she would snicker but she would still dispose of it for me. She tried to get me to handle that on my own but I refused. I would rather walk around for the rest of the day with garbage in my pocket, than inconvenience anyone.

This is just one silly example of my experience with anxiety and I think it’s one of the funnier ones. I’ve come to learn as I’ve gotten older that the best way to get through life is to not take anything too seriously. This includes situations I’ve gotten myself into because of anxiety. If anxiety is something I’ve had to live with my whole life and will likely always be lurking around, I might as well find the humor in it.

Let’s begin with a story from my childhood that is infamous amongst family conversations, and probably not just my family. From the time I was able to talk I was always concerned with other people and how they perceived me. In preschool this showed up while making and keeping friends.

A friend of mine at the time, that we’ll refer to as “A,” had dared me to pinch a little boy in our class. As much as I tried to refuse I was convinced to do it, it was wrong which I knew then and now. But I did it. Meanwhile little did I know that simultaneously four of the other preschoolers had gotten together and mooned the entire class. The teacher turns around as she hears this but somehow didn’t see exactly who committed the crime. She then calls our attention and proceeds to vaguely ask “who did it?” to which I thought she was referring to my peer-pressured act of pinching. I raised my hand. Obviously it was revealed to my teacher and my parents later that I had not in fact mooned the class, but I was ready for a punishment. In the end I didn’t get punished.

As big of a deal as this felt to me at the time, this anecdote is just a funny memory now. A fun ice-breaker, especially for my parents whenever I bring someone home. And I think that’s the point I’m trying to make here. Moments like these can feel scary and enormous in real time if anxiety gets a hold on us. But what if we took a beat to recognize how silly situations like these are and how funny they can be? Maybe the best way to manage this kind of anxiety is to instead look at it as a funny little moment.