Calling out awkwardness is the new black.

Alerting the world to awkwardness is now cooler than sitting with the in crowd at lunch.

There are hand signals for bringing attention to awkwardness.
There are websites dedicated to awkwardness.
Awkward is the strange love child of American culture.

We’ve made it all encompassing.

When something is weird. When it’s uncomfortable. When it’s embarrasing. When there is more than one second of silence in a conversation. When someone mispeaks. Or misteps. Or misses a cue. When you do something clumsy. When you run into that old, former friend in an unexpected, ordinary place.

Everything is awkward.

Yet at the same time, awkwardness is a choice. [footnote]Kudos to our teammate Melissa in Slovenia who was the first person I heard say this. And I agree wholeheartedly.[/footnote]

When someone says something weird, you can say, “That was awkward.” Or you can do something else. Let me encourage the latter, because awkwardness can be a cascading river of nastiness and strange feelings, and, well, no one wants to be the awkward inducer.

The next time you’re tempted to say, “That was awkward,” I encourage you to try some of these tactics instead.

Laugh at the circumstance instead of the person.
Help them, don’t mock them.
Shrug instead of feeling uncomfortable.
Enjoy the irony of a chance encounter.
Pick up the conversation where it left off.
Say hi instead of avoiding that guy.
Lean into the uncomfortable and love someone when they feel vulnerable.
Say, “No big deal.”
Affirm that girl.

Since adopting the awkwardness-is-a-choice mindset, I haven’t felt awkward nearly as much. Awkwardness truly is an option to embrace or reject or do something else with.

I’m human. I do strange, clumsy, unimpressive things. Often. And so does everyone else. So instead of blaring the awkwardness trumpet, I do something else, because that’s what I want other people to do.

Calling out awkwardness is played out. It’s no longer a thing. Move along.