EMBRACING THE CRINGE: WHY 'COOL' IS LOSING ITS APPEAL IN TODAY'S CULTURE

SOMETIMES, I remember things I did years ago, the loud laugh that echoed a little too long, the overshared story at dinner, that dramatic Instagram caption, and I physically wince.

- VUYILE MADWANTSI

CRINGE moments aren't mistakes; they're reminders that life is messy, joyful and real. | Pexels

(Pexels)

My brain replays it in high definition, whispering, "How could I have been so embarrassing?"

That's the power of cringe. It sneaks up on you like a ghost of your past self, the one who felt too deeply, cared too loudly, and didn't yet know how to pretend not to care.

For years, I tried to silence that version of me. I'd tuck away the parts that felt "too much".

The way I laughed with my whole face, the fact that I can't do those demure smiles other women seem to perfect so easily. Even the way I'd sit cross-legged on a couch when everyone else sat neatly upright felt somehow wrong.

It took a long time to realise that what I called "cringe" was really just me.

Somewhere along the way, we were taught that being earnest was embarrassing. That the safest way to exist was to be detached, ironic, a little mysterious, never too invested, never too loud.

We built entire personalities around being "cool" and "nonchalant". But beneath that armour, many of us are just scared of being seen. Scared of being perceived as "too excited", "too emotional" or "too passionate".