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Embarrassment Arrives Before the Symptom Does.
With an unpredictable body, shame can enter the room early and start canceling a life nothing has actually interrupted yet.
My body has missed appointments. Embarrassment is always early.
It gets to the restaurant, meeting, airport, theater or family gathering before I do. It checks the exits, counts the witnesses and imagines every possible way my body might become the evening’s unscheduled entertainment. Nothing has happened yet. I have not fallen, frozen, spilled, stumbled, gone quiet, needed help or become the subject of a concerned group huddle. Embarrassment does not require evidence. It works beautifully from a trailer for a movie that may never be released.