Surviving an Embarrassing Event

How to survive an embarrassing event

In today’s fast paced social media culture, personal information that we don’t really want to share can easily and readily be made available to the public by others who in some cases we thought we could trust. It’s all fun and games when you share pictures of yourself that you know your bestie will keep private, but in some situations our best friends become our worst enemies. Could you imagine what would happen if the most private pictures/videos/information about you was suddenly blasted to the entire community? It happens, and for some youth these invasions of privacy have led to dire consequences, including death by suicide.

What can you do should this happen to you?

Should you become the victim of this type of harassment, there are some things you can do to cope with the embarrassment and possible feelings of hopelessness and begin to feel better.

First, try to find someone you trust that you can talk with about what’s happened and how you are feeling. This could be a friend, family member, minister or other spiritual leader, physician, counselor (if you are in school this could be a school our college campus counselor), or dorm resident advisor. The important thing is to find someone and reach out to that person so that you are not facing the situation and your feelings alone.

Second, if you can’t think of anyone in your circle of friends, family or larger community that you would want to speak with—or if you feel too embarrassed to speak to someone in person—call a hotline for help. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-TALK (8255) and the Boys Town National hotline (1-800-443-3000) have trained volunteers available to listen 24/7. Boys Town has also just launched a crisis chat line. And the Trevor Project which focuses specifically on support for gay, lesbian, and questioning youth has a hotline (1-866-488-7386) and online chat as well. Check out the Get Help section of ReachOut for more information about these and other services.

Third, try to work on changing how you are thinking about the situation. Right now you are probably telling yourself that this is the worst thing that could have happened to you. This may be embarrassing right now, but try to put what’s happened in perspective—will this matter a year from now? in five years? Probably not.

You may be even thinking that you are a horrible person. Try to stop that thinking by telling yourself that “what happened was unfortunate but I am not an awful person.”

You might also be worried about what others think of you. We often think that we know what others must be thinking, and we assume that they are focused on what we perceive as our own weaknesses. You are probably your own worst critic. In fact, others could be feeling compassion or want to help but aren’t sure how.

and Fourth, check out the stories on ReachOut that tell how others have made it through a tough time. These stories are powerful examples of how others got through situations that at the time overwhelmed them with feelings of despair and hopelessness. In fact, as you make it through your tough time, think about sending your story to ReachOut, so that you too can help the next person going through what you have survived.

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