A friend passed along an article that was written by "life coach" Gail Blanke and appeared in Real Simple  magazine. It's amazing how perfectly it applied to my situation.

I don't know how much stock I put in "life coaches". Especially considering that no university degree is required, it depends on the individual I suppose. At least it had nothing to do with this funny play.

So, hundreds of times each day we interpret the way people look at us, their tone of voice, things they do or don't do....you get the idea. We overwhelmingly interpret them negatively. We are so quick to blame ourselves that it is as though we are going to solve our own shortcomings before someone else does. You probably guessed that more often than not, we are wrong. What should be do about it? She listed four things including the basics of defining your goals at the moment and consciously making a positive inerpretation.

What to do if you find out that you were right and your negative interpretations were correct?  Deal with it then and there and move on. Remember, you've lost nothing by taking the positive road in the meantime. Strangely, that is exactly what I did.