My children all prepare their own lunches for school, something they’re quite proud of. Last week my middle kid (Age 8) was making her customary peanut butter & jelly sandwich when she discovered the bread had gone moldy, so we tossed it and substituted a long roll. The next day when she got home, she commented that her friends probably thought it was silly that she had a PB&J on a long roll. She said, “None of them laughed or anything, but I’ll bet they were all thinking it was really silly.” There was a hint of embarrassment in her voice.
So I asked her: “What did your friends have for lunch?”
She couldn’t remember. I asked her about each of her friends by name to help jog her memory, and she couldn’t remember a single item any of them had for lunch. I told her, “You see? People don’t pay any attention to those little things. You might have thought it was silly, but no one else even noticed.”
She perked right up. It was a wonderful moment. It’s great to recognize early that all the little things you’re self-conscious about, no one else could remember with a gun to their head. Your minor foibles are invisible, so don’t sweat them.
The Opportunity Machine 