That's Eggcellent

I learned a new word this week: overegg.

Word Genius sends me a daily email to remind me how few words in the English language I actually know. It's quite depressing. But it keeps my mind sharp, and every once in a while, they send along a gem. These extra-special, new words make me think, “Wow! I’m going to figure out how to integrate this word into my vocabulary!”

Recently, some gems were quinquennial and ephiphenomenon—cool because of how many letters they use! And visually, these words look amazing on the page.

But, back to overegg.

Overegg also jumped out at me. Why? Simple. It's an awesome, full-bellied word. See how round it is? And it means to overembellish or exaggerate something, like a word that is full of baloney.

This English phrase originated in the 1800s, as in to “over-egg the pudding,” which literally means don’t ruin your baking with too many eggs.

I keep thinking not about pudding, but about “Don’t overegg your face.”

You know how as humans, we can regularly end up egg on our face? And how after screwing something up, we can compulsively replay that mistake again and again, focusing on what we did wrong? We see egg on our face, but just noticing that is not enough. I must smear that egg in again and again—for days even—until it loses its power over me and overtaken by new stimuli in life, I move on.

Sometimes, we can busy ourselves smearing old egg over our face while everyone else in the picture is going on with the rest of their lives.

I have done this a few times recently.

Snapping at a friend, and then regretting it immediately. Sending an email by mistake to a full board of directors when I meant to send it to a small group of volunteers. Overreacting to a situation with my son and turning to blame and shame. Or having a silly typo in a very important presentation.

Eggs can be quite delicate, you know. Have you ever tried to make a meringue?

But instead of playing the smearing-the-egg game, we can make another choice. A coach friend of mine taught me to say out loud, “Cancel, cancel,” meaning, “Cancel that thought!” Notice it, cancel it, and then let it go. And then, choose a different thought!

It’s not to avoid responsibility, or to avoid learning from our mistakes, but to avoid the cycle of over-egging, which doesn’t help anyone. Playing an old movie in our minds of something we did wrong keeps us from moving forward, from being creative, and from looking ahead.

Take it from me, and from my friend Word Genius: Next time you screw up, don’t overembellish what you did. Don't overemote. Or overegg.

Underegg if you have to.