Space
But, really, my brains spends way too much time storing cringe-inducing moments and then re-running them over and over again. Sometimes I’ll be doing something mundane like mopping the floor or winning a stunt bike race and suddenly a memory will appear in my brain and I physically cringe and maybe even curse out loud.
Cringing causes me to squint my eyes somewhat which is troublesome in the two examples I gave above: Stunt Bike: When squinting, I could easily miss the line on the jump as I am barreling over it crashing upon landing. Mopping: I might mop the cat by mistake.
Therapy
I bet that if I just listed all the cringe inducing items out in the open that it would therapeutic. Right? Well, I am not going to that. I am not man enough. There. I said it.
Types
The cringe memories in my brain can be categorized into two groups: Ones that happened in front of people and ones that happened in front of people I don’t know (or not in front of anyone). The later is annoying because I am just stuffing them into the back of my brain… and no else even knows they are there.
Teen
In high school, we often had to write poetry in English class (the “cool” teacher). I don’t know if these “poems” exist anymore, but just the thought of them is making me feel weird.
Additionally, we also had to keep journal entries and when I think about to some of things I wrote (I remember one entry about “what cool teens do”) I want to jump off a bridge. This weekend, I am going to spend time looking for these offending materials and burning them if found.
Existence
The “high school girlfriend” may have some of these materials. I cringe just about the fact that I thought she might want to read some of my missives and gave them to her when I left for college.
Holy crap what was I thinking?
“Here’s my book of journals and poetry – you’ll appreciate the robots, cars, and spaceships that are doodled in the margins”
AIYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
Paralyze
If I was president, any evil-doer who gained access to my cringe inducing folder of memories could use them to completely paralyze me.
“Mr. President, do you have any comment about that one time in college where that girl…”
Cultural Cultural cringe, in cultural studies and social anthropology, is an internalized inferiority complex which causes people in a country to dismiss their own culture as inferior to the cultures of other countries. It is closely related, although not identical, to the concept of colonial mentality, and is often linked with the display of anti-intellectual attitudes towards thinkers, scientists and artists who originate from a colonial or post-colonial nation.
