Henna Pryor

Awkwardness often emerges as a result of an unexpected conflict or unplanned event, an odd social encounter or an embarrassing moment.

Difficult to use, do, or deal with2
“I need to have an awkward conversation with my boss.”

“It was an awkward negotiation, but we figured it out eventually.”

“He’s an awkward customer” (a difficult person to deal with).

2 Causing or feeling embarrassment, worry, or inconvenience3
“You have put me in a very awkward position.”

“Her suggestion was followed by an awkward silence.”

What’s interesting about all these definitions is they have three unwritten characteristics in common:

Private self-consciousness involves our tendency to turn inward and closely inspect our inner selves to uncover our feelings, motivations, triggers, and fears.

Public self-consciousness, on the other hand, is an awareness of the self as it’s viewed by other people. It’s these aspects of ourselves that feel like they’re on public display.

Why do we feel this way? And worse, why do we fixate on it? Because social acceptance is a very real and hardwired human need. Feeling awkward is a signal from our modern brain telling us something feels socially unsteady. It tries to protect us from making