Looking foolish is uncomfortable but survivable.

Play is good for adult mental health.

Being bad at new things helps your brain grow.

Public speaking is often listed among our greatest fears. As Jerry Seinfeld once joked, at a funeral, the average person would rather be in the casket than delivering the eulogy.

I have spent a truly impressive amount of my life trying to avoid looking foolish. Most people would agree.

There’s a spectrum when it comes to avoiding public humiliation. Being laughed at is generally considered to be an unpleasant experience. But there’s even a word for an extreme fear of it. Gelotophobia is a personality trait characterized by a disproportionate fear of being laughed at by other people (Torres-Marín et al., 2017).

Unfortunately, learning almost anything requires a period of being bad at it. If we want creativity, innovation, and play in our lives, learning to tolerate the discomfort of looking foolish is an important part of our adult development.

And looking foolish may actually be good for your mental health. Here are three reasons why.

1. It teaches your brain that embarrassment is survivable.

Your brain is built to care what other people think. Humans are social creatures, and belonging has always mattered for........

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