The Most Embarrassing Thing That Ever Happened to Me

Me in all my cheerleading glory. I had to actually take a picture of this picture because it was in my scrapbook. I now feel officially old.

You’re probably wondering why I’d willingly offer up one the most embarrassing moments of my life for your entertainment, but don’t worry…

There’s a lesson in here somewhere. I promise!

Our story begins in the fall of 2000…

This was the year when:

• Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston were married.
• The biggest scandal was J-Lo’s Versace grammy’s dress.
• Britney and Christina were vying for airtime on our iPods.

For me, it was freshman year in high school…

While I wasn’t exactly rolling with the coolest kids in school, I never cared. What I lacked in popularity, I made up for in sheer disregard for other people’s opinions about what you “did” and “did not” do in order to maintain your social status.

Thus, I became the only person in my freshman class to become a cheerleader. You may be scratching your head wondering why this was a questionable decision. You have to understand though… at my school cheerleading was not a “cool” sport.

The Pep Rally

You can obviously imagine the immense pressure I felt when it came time for my first pep rally! We had been practicing our routine for weeks so when the day came we were totally ready to kill it.

Before going out, my friend Joelle and I made the fateful decision that we would do some round-offs as part of our grand entrance. Since the gym was set up so that each class had their own section of the bleachers, we would be running out in front of the freshman class which was perfect.

I GOT THIS – No I Don’t!!!

When our intro song came blaring through the speakers all of us started running into the gym. I was moving so fast! I could feel my power as I launched into a roundoff. The feeling was incredible! I was flying through the air with the greatest of ease.

When my feet hit the ground for the landing though, I knew something was wrong. I had too much power! There was way too much momentum for my little cheer sneakers to absorb! That’s when -ish got real and time slowed down…and I landed in a heap on the ground.

I felt as if I was in one of those dream sequences you see in the movies.

I sat there for a split second wondering if this was an actual nightmare as I frantically willed myself to wake up. But when I looked up at 180 of classmates to my right I realized, “Holy F!@$” this was in fact, real life, and I had just fallen flat on my face in front of my entire school!

In that moment I had two choices:

1. I could either run off stage left crying,
2. or I could get up and hope that it wasn’t that bad and that no one actually noticed.

So, rather than to draw more attention to myself, I quickly pulled down my cheer skirt (which had unceremoniously fallen upwards exposing my bloomer-ed butt to the sky), and ran to join the other girls in the center of the gym.

Once the rally was over I immediately ran into the locker room and burst into tears. I was ruined! How could I ever recover from this kind of social suicide? Thankfully, as it is with high school, something else scandalous came out fairly soon after and my fall from grace was no longer front page news.

The silver lining to this situation is that my ability to laugh at myself and not care what other people think is pretty rock solid now–how could it not be?

 Ok, so why did I tell you this story–other than to entertain you with my clumsiness and some strategically placed GIFs?

Let me answer my question with another question: What you were thinking about for the last few minutes as you read this?

Were you wondering what was for dinner?

Were you thinking about what’s next on your to-do list? Probably not.

You were engrossed in my story, wondering what was going to happen next. You were probably also putting yourself in my shoes at some point, and wondering what you would have done had you been in the same situation.

The reason I know that is because story is one of the best ways to hold people’s attention. According to Storybrand, the human brain is drawn to story. When you open up a story loop, our brains are hardwired to close it.You can use this to your advantage by weaving story into your own copy and branding to get your potential client’s attention and create connection with them.

That will help to strengthen that “know, like, and trust factor” that is oh, so important when it comes to who people choose to work with.

Now that I have bared my soul to you, I’d love to hear about your most embarrassing moment. Tell me all about it in the comments! I can’t be the only one!–bonus points if it involves falling!

PS–If you want more help clarifying your message and crafting a brand story that captures your client’s attention, then click HERE to sign up for The Brand Experience Intensive.