In a classic but humiliating case of too much information, introvert Kelly Hayden of New York City inadvertently revealed a personal detail in the course of a casual conversation with a coworker.
"He was talking about belonging to the Y," explained Kelly, "and I let it slip that I would like to start doing weights to work on my upper body."
Her coworker Mark's eyes immediately flew to her arms, Kelly instantly noticed, and she cringed inwardly about disclosing such highly personal information regarding her fitness goals and, by implication, her body image, in a professional setting - information that Mark was neither interested in, nor needed to know.
Frazzled as she was, Kelly maintained enough composure to know that the only way to proceed was to act as if her leap into TMI-land was truly no big deal. And so, when Mark responded that maybe he would see her around at the Y, she merely shrugged and smiled, and said, "Yeah, maybe."
Rather than ruminate over her careless disclosure of an actual, substantive detail about her life, Kelly says she has moved on from the incident, while also giving Mark space, so as to spare the two of them any further inappropriately intimate moments. And she's intent on maintaining a positive mindset about the gaffe.
"We all have our moments," she said. "Seriously, no big deal."
