Earlier this week, 24-year-old Samantha Pellegrino displayed the incredible ability to be embarrassed about who she was only 10 seconds before.
While most people feel embarrassed looking back at their teenage years, Pellegrino is somehow able to feel deep-seated shame about the way she thought and behaved just moments earlier.
“What the fuck is wrong with me?” Pellegrino asked herself about a recent interaction. “The other day I met this artist I really admire at a party. When we met she told me, ‘Nice to meet you,’ and instead of saying, ‘Same,’ like a normal person, I said, “I don’t deserve to be here…you’re amazing’ and just kind of backed away.”
“I knew I did a bad almost as soon as it happened.”
“It was pretty weird,” says Hillary Wasserman, a friend of Pellegrino’s. “However, it wasn’t, like, the worst.”
“No, everybody will remember what I did forever,” Pellegrino insists. “I’m horrified of that person I used to be 10 seconds ago.”
Mere seconds after the incident, Pellegrino looked back at herself with the same level of embarrassment people typically reserve for cringing as they flip through their high-school yearbook. What’s even more amazing? She’s capable of experiencing the exact same embarrassment about herself every day due to pretty much anything, without letting any time pass to reflect.
“Yesterday I tripped on a child’s play tent in Ikea, and I turned around and apologized to the tent,” says Pellegrino. “Then I felt guilty about ruining the display they set up and started berating myself for not just owning my space. Because I should be more confident, right? Is that a stupid question? Oh my God.”
Wow. We’re truly impressed with Pellegrino’s ability to regret not only choices made in the past, but also choices she just made and sometimes even choices she hasn’t made yet. She’s skilled at self-reflection to a degree that borders on concerning, and we’re here for it. Go Samantha!
