First of all: I love this topic. So happy this one was submitted because of the 15 different directions it can go. If you want to submit your own idea for a new post or if you want to write your own to be featured on the site, you absolutely can! But you know that by now. You know you can contact us anytime via the website or even through something as convenient as Facebook. Just like you know we have some published books available on Amazon. So let’s not talk about that stuff. Instead, let’s focus on your debilitating Fear of Saying the Wrong Thing.
Fear of Saying the Wrong Thing can mean so many different things. Simplified: it can be you made the wrong comment. But if you break it down further: you said the wrong thing to the wrong person at the wrong time in the wrong place and it was taken the wrong way. Or perhaps it was something you didn’t say. Something you could have said but didn’t. Something you wanted to say but chose not to and the moment passed. That’s the worst part about this Fear: it’s tied to the hip of awkward regret in so many different ways. Plus it can occur in such a wide variety of ways and circumstances. Let’s explore just how horrifying some of those ways can be, shall we?
Social Anxiety: Fear of Saying the Wrong Thing
Let’s say you’re on a first date. While at the highest point of the roller coaster, you start screaming, crying, and demanding the carnival folk return you to Earth. Your date turns to you and says, “but your online profile said you enjoyed sky-diving, bungee-jumping, and all things of unnatural height”. This creates a two-prong “wish I hadn’t said that” moment. Your date now thinks you’re a liar because of your fabricated online profile. Your date also probably regrets swiping right in the first place. So now you’re stuck, high in the air, with a date who was just waiting for an excuse to take their phone back out. Those farms from the ville don’t take care of themselves, you know.
Here’s another example of how Fear of Saying the Wrong Thing can strike. Let’s say you’re trying to stick to your script while delivering a rousing presentation to a classroom of fellow students who couldn’t care less. To win them over, you bust out your impression of your teacher who has one eye and peg-leg. Of course, the only person who appreciates it in a meaningful way is Mrs. Blackbeard herself. Because it’s 2021 and women can be pirates too. So now you’re trapped wondering whether it was all worth it. Your classmates sure seem intrigued now that you’re being escorted off the premises for your antics. You’ve now become a meme; a viral superstar. Kids can be so mean.
Biting Your Tongue to Avoid a Fear of Saying the Wrong Thing
Here’s the tricky part about wondering whether or not you are saying or doing the right thing: it’s impossible to know until it’s too late. You might be living your life the way you want; saying and doing what you feel is normal. However, what makes sense to you might be the polar opposite of what someone else wants to do or hear. You can offend someone completely by accident because of a misunderstanding, misinterpretation, or any of the other mis’s. Alternatively, some people just want to watch the world burn and will be happy to twist your words out of proportion until you can’t even remember what you actually said. In Internet lingo, we call them trolls. I think. I don’t want to speak for everyone. So what are you going to do? Keep your mouth shut forever? Never speak again? Never write anything again? Find out what happens in the next Things I Fear post!
…just kidding. That would be the weirdest way to end a post, right? You can’t be worried about things like consequences and repercussions of your actions. Making mistakes is part of life and how you learn. So get out there and start making awkward comments, people!
