The awkwardness of learning in public

Today,I tried something unfamiliar while other people were watching. I made a few mistakes and immediately became conscious of every movement. My mind kept imagining everyone judging me . Eventually, I continued anyway. Nothing terrible happened. Most people were too busy with their own tasks to care as much as imagined.

Online conversations often reveal how strongly people over estimate how much others notice their mistakes. Reading those experiences helped me recognize the pattern. We are usually the main character in our own embarrassment, not everyone else's. Today, continuing despite despite discomfort felt more valuable than looking competent, I left feeling quietly braver.