You’ve rewatched that awkward moment fifty times. Everyone else watched it once and moved on.

Your embarrassment came with a recording and everybody else’s memory did not. For them it was one small moment inside a day full of their own concerns, gone within the hour. For you it plays on loop, and every replay makes it feel more significant, because anything you think about often starts to feel important. The repetition is the only thing keeping it alive.

When the loop starts, notice it is a rerun rather than news. Get up, change rooms, do something with your hands. Then try naming one awkward thing somebody else did last month.