Anyone who knows me will know that I have a long-standing love/hate relationship with hugging. I’ve written about it before, but me and hugs –we just do not get along. As I’ve gotten older and realized that hugging is just a fact of life that I will have to accept, I’ve done my best to overcome whatever issues I have with them.
I’ve come to accept that some people like to be hugged -and like it or not -they will hug you too. The only thing I can do is make it as less awkward as possible and since I am all about eliminating those awkward behaviors -I have given it my best shot. I now will hug someone without turning completely weird. It’s taken some time, but I have gotten there. I now will hug my friends, a random person in church, and as a recent event proved -I will even hug complete strangers.
Let me explain.
Last week we had a customer come into the shop. A jolly man who is outgoing and talkative. He also happens to be our neighbor. A nice man with a bubbly personality.
I said hello and he began talking “You look wonderful today!” he said “You look so wonderful!” “And just look at that necklace!”
I should digress here and say -accepting compliments is another area of awkwardness.
After saying how “Simply wonderful” I looked, he began walking towards me. His arms outstretched, bopping up and down. In my mind -it ticked all the boxes of him initiating a hug. “Don’t make this awkward” my brain said. The signal also must have gotten mixed with the afore mentioned awkwardness of accepting compliments, and I did the only thing I could think of. I opened my arms and went for a big hug.
………
……
….
Except that he wasn’t going for a hug. He was going for a closer look at my necklace.
“Oh, we can hug too, I was just getting a closer look at your necklace, but a hug is ok too.”
Which is when I realized, much too late, that this awkward hug I was hoping to avoid? Was the very thing I was in the smack middle of. He wasn’t going for a hug at all! But it was much too late, and all I could do was wait the awkward few seconds and release him from my clutches.
So, you know, that is where we are with the whole hugging thing. I’m not sure it will ever become less awkward!
Tangled Thoughts 