Step #4: Laugh at yourself...wait, it's not that funny.

Laugh and the world laughs at you; with you--maybe both.

A helpful hint: Lean towards your more endearing qualities or falsify your faults. NEVER, ever ever ever make fun of those tender insecurities. Sure, you'll find yourself in the center of a circle guffawing over how you can't skip or play the recorder. All that laughter does is shine a spotlight on what you know to be your weakness. It may seem playful and harmless but when the lights go down and your left with only you: the truth will be staring you dead in the eye. You will rue the day you skipped Mr. Grady's 3rd grade music class. You'll question the arrogance with which you preferred to run because "you got there faster". You'll slip into a slow-mo montage where everyone around you is skipping WHILST playing recorders. Life will seem like a Renaissance fair you were not invited to. A veritable maypole one ribbon shy.

The joke is always better when you are in on it too---reclaim your ribbon.