From mispronouncing a word to accidentally texting your in-laws, we’ve all experienced some degree of cringe-inducing humiliation – and most of us absolutely hated the feeling.

But what if every social situation seems like a trap? Here are a few things you’ll understand if you’re really easily embarrassed…

1. Embarrassment is self-perpetuating

Step one: Get embarrassed.Step two: Turn red, stumble over your words, start sweating, furiously deny being embarrassed.Step three: Get more embarrassed.

2. You spend a lot of time looking in the mirror

There are two almost opposing reasons for constantly checking your reflection. Either you’re intensely vain, or you’re easily embarrassed and feel a compulsive need to check you still look vaguely normal.

Then there was the time you ate a jam doughnut and checked your mouth in the window of a nearby shop – only to realise you were accidentally leering at a slightly freaked-out cashier.

3. Some TV shows are super difficult to watch

Mark hiding from his own wedding in Peep Show, Simon’s attempted dirty talk in the Inbetweeners, and Michael dating Pam’s mum in The Office – some of TV’s most iconic moments have passed you by because they make you feel ever-so-slightly unwell. Never underestimate the power of the cringe.

4. Your emails are exquisitely well-crafted

Typos are bad enough, but just imagine the mortifying potential of an accidental ‘reply all’, never mind something inappropriate left in the chain of an email forwarded to your boss. Luckily you always double-check. Repeatedly.

5. Public speaking is your nightmare

Mark Twain once said there are only two types of public speaker – nervous ones, and liars. The frustrating thing is you can be perfectly articulate in private, but when all eyes are on you the pressure becomes unbearable. What is said cannot be unsaid.

6. Embarrassment can lead to some terrible decisions

Fear of embarrassment often stops people speaking up, but some situations are best tackled head on. If someone calls you by the wrong name, correct them immediately, because the revelation you’re “Tom” not “Toby” won’t be easier when you’ve worked together for a year.

It also leaves you pliable to peer pressure. You don’t really want to go for a drink with the person who knows you as Toby, but could anything be worse than making a fuss?

7. Going to stay with people can be very stressful

Easily embarrassed people tend to have quite small comfort zones, and venturing out of them can be painstaking and perilous. Staying at someone’s house (when it’s allowed under Covid restrictions) is riven with social trapdoors and potential faux-pas. Do you say if you dislike a food? Are tea bags in the take-without-asking category? And is it bad manners to ask for an extra blanket?

8. The dancefloor is not your natural habitat

They say you shouldn’t overthink dancing, and that’s because when you do think about it, the otherwise purposeless contortions seem irretrievably humiliating and bizarre.

“Dance like no one’s watching,” they say. But people are watching. What a stupid piece of advice.

9. You get SEVERE hangxiety

We’re not sure what’s worse – remembering the embarrassing things you did last night (and nearly everything seems embarrassing) or not remembering clearly and having your imagination fill the gaps. Then there are smartphones, so people can replay your terrible lapses, made when you let down your guard.

10. You once waved at someone who wasn’t actually waving at you…

…and it was the worst day of your life.