I live in constant fear of being cringe. It’s gotten to the point where it sometimes effects my relationships… lol. This may be more of a rant more than anything, I just need to get it off my chest.
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I used to have bad social anxiety up until highschool. I was known as the shy kid. Very very shy. Never raised my hand in class and had a very hard time making friends with boys (I am a girl).
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However, in highschool, I made a pact to myself to not be shy anymore. I knew I had an incredible personality that needed to be shared. So I started doing one thing that scared me every day, whether that meant going up to an acquaintance or meeting someone new or doing something embarrassing. And it worked! I quickly became my bubbly, social butterfly self! It felt nice to be me finally.
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I normally don’t struggle with being shy anymore (well, most of the time). I will do embarrassing things, I’ll dance in public, make a fool of myself in front of new people to get their reaction (weird, I know), I’ll go up to strangers and strike conversations.
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However, I live in constant fear of being cringe. Weirdly. They’re oddly specific things. For example, I feel embarrassed to get food from Starbucks. If anyone sees me I freak out. I have to space out where I get food from there (I love Starbucks food, embarrassingly. I get it like twice a week) so workers don’t see me going twice. I also hate getting food from my campus (I am in college). If anyone sees me I freak out, even if they’re getting food too.
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One time, I got this really good quiche from a cafe on campus. I saw my friend also at the cafe doing homework. I avoided him and sat on the opposite side. When he eventually saw me, I had no choice but to join him (he’s a really close school friend and we do hw together a lot). I was so embarrassed to be eating the quiche. When I saw him the next day, though, he said “that quiche you got yesterday looked so good. I got one today. So yummy”. It was so strange to me that he ended up getting it too but it made me realize it’s not embarrassing.
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It also effects people I date. I will get uncomfortable if they do something weird in public like make a weird joke or sit at a weird place in a restaurant. I really can’t explain it. Even if other people sit there or make the same jokes. I’ll point it out to them if I’m cringed. It’s usually lighthearted, but once my ex got kind of flustered and joked “It’s hard to be around you sometimes because you get cringed out easily, haha. Why are you so scared?”.
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I’m trying to think of other things… taking the bus, using an umbrella, walking in the park, it’s so strange!
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Another anecdote, I was watching a movie with a new love interest. Whenever we’re about to kiss, it can’t be at a “cringe” moment, or else I’ll get really uncomfortable. Like if it’s a weird part of the movie or if I just said something weird. One time we were waiting for our Dalle-mini to generate and I refused to kiss him because… that would be weird. We were doing a funny task. How could I kiss him?
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Anyways, rant. It’s probably just because I have diagnosed OCD. Does anyone get this too? Hopefully you had a good laugh.
4 comments
I basically lived my life like this till i was 17 or something.Never had the courage to speak up in public cause i thought i’d say something embarassing.Its tough cause you gotta rethink what you have to say for a few seconds to try and act not cringey.i’m 20 now i could say i’ve kinda improved.I think the basic idea is to not give a shit.Just hang around with people you like.Do things that you like to do and stuff.Cause even if we act cringe more than half the people around us don’t give a fuck That i’ve learnt through a lot of experiences in the past 3 years.Everyone has a unique identity,character and ideas you don’t have to feel embarassed about being you.yeah its tough but i still hope life gets better for you.Hope this helps.
The quiche story is so cute
I don’t understand why any of those things would be ‘cringe’. How is eating food cringe? Do you cringe when you see people consuming food? I hope you are able to calm down, chill out, and one day eat quiche proudly with your head held high.
Look into how to get past cringe because while in the moment it can seem like the end of the world, it’s really not.
I remember saying “hello” to the general manager(boss at the top) where I work and she was completely talking to someone else. Icing on the cake was that a manager saw the whole thing and made fun of the situation. I can’t help but laugh at the situation in memories.
I find that the best thing to do when something “cringe” happens is to fess up to it immediately and take it from there. I think I got over this particular “incident” that afternoon.