I believe in laughing at yourself. Laughter heals embarrassing moments and awkward situations. Trust me, I tend to fall and embarrass myself a lot. I feel that if one laughs at oneself when something embarrassing happens, it makes the seriousness fade away and is no big deal. When people laugh at you it can hurt but do not worry about it just laugh with them and have fun, it makes it less hurtful. One laughing at their embarrassment lets others think that it is no big deal. If one does not laugh people will think it is something serious and then feel bad for laughing when it is not a big deal.
I have danced since I was about 8. My dance studio always puts on a few dance shows to show off what we have learned in the routines that our teachers have choreographed. The dance shows would take place at a college theatre. After dancing my friend and I were pretty hungry, so during intermission we wanted to see what was in the lobby because apparently snacks were being sold. We left backstage and walked up a few steps to the doors that lead into the lobby; however, when we peeked into the lobby, no snacks were to be found. We were too late and the snacks were sold out. Walking back to the backstage area, it was dark outside and I had not been paying any attention to where I was walking. I was staring at my friend having a conversation when something felt weird, like my legs were not working and had no feeling in them. I did not see or remember the stairs, so going down them unintentionally, I tripped sideways. Being the cool girl I thought I was, I tried playing it off, only there were more steps. Tripping for the second time, I fell on my side rolling down a couple more steps. My friend asked me if I was ok in a sincere voice. I was fine just embarrassed that I just fell twice right after another. I got up and we walked on level ground for a few seconds in awkward silence, then we busted out hysterically laughing at what just happened. I was laughing at what I imagined I looked like trying to convince myself that I did not fall twice in a row.
You are probably laughing at my embarrassing story and that is ok with me because I believe in laughing at oneself and I have laughed many times at this story. It is okay to laugh at oneself and not be so serious all the time. One will have moments where he or she needs to be serious but if one gets embarrassed by something he or she did, such as falling, laugh it off. It is healthy for people to laugh. Also, other people are already laughing so just join them; it ends up being a funny story to tell.