In an embarrassing situation we usually try to ignore it for as long as possible, but today students are learning to embrace those situations.

“Sometimes the intended message and the impact of the message are not the same,” says Matthew Walsh, psychology teacher. “This is what causes a moment to be identified as awkward.”

It can be hard for most to people to recover from uncomfortable situations and it can be even harder to remove it from your memory. However, these moments are sometimes fun to share because you can reflect and laugh about it.

“During a bus evacuation drill in middle school I landed on my face instead of my feet,” says Katie Uttal, junior. “When I got up my jeans were ripped at the knee and everyone saw me.”

Moments like these seem impossible to forget, but it is for the sake of your brain’s health. “Awkward moments tend to have more of an emotional response, so the brain holds on to the memory because it thinks it can be used to help us survive as a species,” says Walsh.

Generally the more you think about something, the longer it will last in your memory. The best way to recover from an awkward situation is to admit and accept. You can’t go back in time, so denying the situation is pointless.