I hope you’re afraid of being ‘cringe.’ Not because I want the fear to hold you back, but because worrying about being ‘cringe’ means you’re doing something different, you’re doing something with heart, you’re stepping into a power era that you know will shake past versions of you and the people who are comfortable with that version of you.
I’m terrified of being cringey, but it’s something that I’ve come to accept, especially as a creative – not everybody will love my work, and the people I worry about not liking it were never going to really like it to begin with. The fear of this embarrassment keeps us playing small, keeps our passions in the pit of our somedays. And while this may please other people (who really don’t care about what you’re doing from day-to-day until they see your cringey post pop up on social media) it is only ensuring one thing for you – you’re staying exactly where you are.
And when you have a passion, a pull, a knowing within you that you are destined for something, staying where you are will never satisfy that hunger.
Who are you at your most cringe? Your cringe is your greatest power – it is the part of you that is bravely stepping into discomfort so that you can leap into the version of you that you’re truly destined to become.
It will be messy, you will make mistakes, you will keep going under the disheartening feeling of getting two likes, you will watch people share post after post that aren’t yours, you will over-analyse your story viewers, you may even end up as a topic in group chats. But you have to keep showing up – show up for those two likes, no likes, show up even when others doubt you, show up as the cringey girl who is causing others discomfort. Show up, because there is somebody who needs your cringe.
I want to see what you eat in a day, I want to watch your makeup routine, I’m ready to dance along to your TikTok’s, sing along to the song you wrote, keep up with your blog, read your poems, share your funny videos. Your cringe is my friend, she’s a boss, she’s fearless. Own your cringe, it’s the thing that throws you outside the box of the norm. And of course the norm is fine, but I feel like I’m here to shake some shit up. Because I’m just so cringey. And I bloody love it.
