Own Your Cringe

Don’t kill the part of you that’s cringe; kill the part that cringes.

Trying something new is embarrassing.

It’s that first day of singing lessons where you’re afraid the teacher might quit their job because your voice is irredeemable. It’s learning how to swing a golf club or dance and realizing that you’re made of stiff metal rods. It’s sharing something you wrote online and feeling like you’re at the dentist: mouth open wide, unable to speak, while the dentist gets their dentist friends then says, “Look at how crazy this is!”

I feel that every time I share something I post. It makes me want to run away and never share another post. But a meme inspired me recently, and I think it’s got a good point.

It said, “Do not kill the part of you that’s cringe… Kill the part that cringes.”

Here’s a story that I also find inspiring.

Marques Brownlee is famous for reviewing smartphones, laptops, hell even Teslas on YouTube. He’s likely to be the most well respected tech YouTuber in the game right now. But in 2009, 15 year old Marques Brownlee reviewed the remote control that came with his laptop. You can check at here: HP Pavilion dv7t Media Center Remote Overview

It isn’t the most well lit and shot video, but we can admire the heart behind it. Now he’s up to 15.2 million subscribers. It’s arguably a cringey video (like every normal person’s first YouTube video) but even he said that he was glad that he did it. He embraced his cringe.

Now it’s time to embrace yours. Own your cringe. Own yourself.

This article was originally posted on The Freyncis Newsletter on January 10, 2022. Subscribe to receive my latest articles!