Reading · Strong by Lisbeth Darsh

I love being cringe.

That’s what the kids call it when you’re enthusiastically yourself. Cringe.

When you don’t care if you’re mega-goofy.

When you can say out loud “I LOVE THIS” — and you don’t care if anybody else loves it or even tolerates you loving it. You LOVE it and you’re saying it!

And yes, my poor children — not only do they have to go places with me but they are cringe-descendant so they know what’s coming for them.

Luckily, they humor me, even on vacation. Is the yellow dress a good look for me?

But there’s a bonus that nobody tells you about: when you’re 60, you stop giving a fuck about being cringe.

Even if you thought you were an I Don’t Give a Fuck (IDGAF) person before, now you enter the stratosphere. It’s like IDGAF x IDGAF x IDGAF. To infinity. And way fucking beyond.

You have zero hesitancy left over from the earlier years of life. You’re done trying to be cool because you know that life is short, even if you have another 39 years!

Cringe IS the goal now.

Here’s another truth that many of us residing in the Kingdom of Cringe know: your real life starts when you accept that you don’t fit in.

And — more importantly (and yes I’m using em dashes and I don’t fucking care because I used them before AI was a twinkle in some tech bro’s eye*) — why would you want to fit in?

It’s way more fun to be a nerd.

Nerds LIVE.

Nerds get excited and show it. We geek out over weird stuff. We are weird stuff and we don’t fucking care — and it’s phenomenally freeing. Energizing. LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT MY LATEST OBSESSION! THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER! I LOVE IT SO MUCH! OMFG LIFE IS AMAZING!

You can share if you want to!

LOOK AT THE SUNSET THIS WEEK! HOLY MOLY!

Cringe will free every one of the characters that lives inside you, including that 5-year-old who just wanted to ride her bike and run around in the backyard without a shirt on. (Cringe might even go do that but check your local laws first because YMMV.)

Like I need a t-shirt to remind me? Cringe in Boston, too!

The truth is that life will roll on whether we are cringe or not. Whether we are jaded or excited. Whether we just breathe or we actually live.

So let’s LIVE.

And everybody else can deal.

Or not.

Because — no shocker here — in the cringe crowd, none of us care if anybody likes what we’re doing or not.

Remember: we are cringe but we are free.

I’m way more cringe than my wife but luckily she puts up with me.

*For a great AI rant, go here:

Related Reading:

And one more because so much sucks but this might make you laugh today:

We Are Cringe But We Are FREE

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