Embarrassment fades way faster than you think. Nobody’s thinking about your moment as much as you are.

Other people’s attention is almost entirely occupied by themselves, which means your worst moment was a minor event in everybody else’s day. You remember it in detail because you were inside it, and that detail makes it feel far larger than the version anyone else is holding. Most witnesses have already lost it.

Test that by trying to recall somebody else’s embarrassing moment from last year. The blank you draw is the same blank they are drawing about yours. Then go and do the thing you were avoiding because of how it might look.