So, you’ve lost some weight but aren’t finished and don’t quite feel amazing. Yet. You know you look better but the whole world might not recognize it if they haven’t seen you in a while. So, how do we handle those awkward, “Wow, I didn’t quite recognize you, is something different?” moments? Or even those, “I just recognized your voice, I haven’t seen you since middle school!!” awkward moments?

In the past few days I’ve had two of those. The first was awkward because it was someone from my church. Only one person from my church even knew that I was back in town and he knows how to keep his mouth shut. Why does it matter? If you’ve ever been a member of a church, you probably know the answer. For the rest, your church basically becomes your extended family. Would you go back to your hometown for over a year and not tell your family? I would but that’s a different story for another day.

The second encounter was awkward for the reason that it happened almost exactly as I said above. He recognized me by my voice. It’s good, though, that he didn’t recognize me by sight because I was a wee awkward thing back then. Like, really strange. Really, really strange. I’m way hotter now. (P.S. He had a crush on me.)

I don’t yet know how to properly navigate these situations. It’s a little uncomfortable when people look really intently at you and you can tell that they are trying to figure out what’s different and if it will be okay to ask if you’ve lost weight and all that jazz. So, instead you talk about the weather.

As I was telling the story to a coworker a few days ago (we shall call him Polished Lumberjack) we brainstormed quick exit strategies and ways to extricate yourself. We came up (well, I came up with the idea but Polished Lumberjack wanted some of the credit) with the Social Emergency app for smart phones.

It’s basically an app where you hit a short emergency code and it will send out a text message to a few people whom you have programmed in to “Please, please, please call you RIGHT NOW to get you out of this awkward, never ending conversation!!!” If no one calls you, it would just automatically ring after 60 seconds and then you’d have to pretend someone was on the other line.

I think I could make a fortune with this.

Maybe it’s so strange to see those people because I don’t feel like that girl anymore. That girl didn’t really like herself, saw everything in black and white, struggled with getting through each day, and had little to no personality. That’s not me. (Watch now, here’s where I tie it all in to the Change It Up Challenge)

As I start the planned activities for the Change It Up Challenge this week, I can’t help but think about what a different girl I am. I’m going to do group fitness classes… by choice. Friends, this is about as monumental as me eating cottage cheese. I just don’t do it. So, what masochistic delusions are to blame for this? None. The thing is, because I’m not that girl anymore, I can do the things that she couldn’t.

She was scared of what people thought of her and that kept her from trying new things. I’m taking a Bollywood dance class. She would agonize over asking for anything. I just asked for several days off to go to California. Then I asked for another day because Schnookums is leaving shortly after I arrive. I just wrote the email and sent it. No hesitation and agonizing.

So, I’ll take the awkward moments and do a random happy dance because that’s who I am.

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