If you are anything like me, when you stumble over a rock or an unlevel place in the sidewalk, and you stumble to the ground, you immediately get up and look around to see who saw you fall. I have been especially clumsy lately, and I believe it's probably due to the fact that I am very distracted by some personal issues and therefore paying little attention to where I am going and what I am doing. I caught the toe of my shoe on the cement the other day and crashed to the ground. My knee is bruised, my hands were scuffed, but the pain was overshadowed by the rush of adrenaline and the glancing around to see who had witnessed my clumsiness.
I can parallel this hyper-vigilance to so many aspects of my life. I'm often looking around, trying to figure out who saw and what they thought. I don't tend to my injuries and ask myself if I am okay first. I focus on the external. As I pondered this, I thought to myself, "Here's another of those little life lessons I need to learn". Does it matter what everyone else thinks? Not really. Most likely any witness would be concerned and rush to help me up. And even if someone laughed, could I really blame him? After all, we've all watched America's Funniest Home Videos and gasped for breath as we howl with laughter over countless falls and other gaffs.
What it boils down to is learning to pick myself up, dust myself off, survey the damage, and carry on with life as I had planned. It wouldn't hurt to laugh at myself, either. Instead of saying, "Oh geez. You are such a klutz. You're so stupid! It's just as easy to laugh at myself and say, "Well that was silly. I need to pay more attention to what I am doing."
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