The way it has become cool to care as little as possible is getting old. Somehow being a “tryhard” or, just simply putting in any effort, is “cringe.” It’s making our lives boring.
Since trying to look “effortless” has become the new cool, we’ve lost all of our personalities. Every building looks the same, album covers are completely focused on being clean, clothing is all one solid color. What does “clean girl aesthetic,” brutalist architecture and the tradwife trend have in common? They’re all plain. Our expression has become lifeless and boring, all for the sake of being “minimalist.” Everyone does their makeup with the same mascara and clear lip gloss, everyone’s outfits are the same jeans and solid color top.
Even our relationships are becoming dry and uninteresting. Texting someone twice is doing too much, God forbid calling them. Snapchat has ruined how we talk to each other because we’re more focused on streaks and best friends lists than actually talking to our friends. I didn’t think that how much of my face is in a picture I send to someone would dictate how much I like them, but that’s what it’s come to apparently. My friends get full face pictures, acquaintances get half face, and people I don’t like get the ceiling. Because that’s how we communicate now.
We’re so detached from each other that we can’t talk anymore. People are always in “situationships” because we can’t communicate what we want from each other, and no one is willing to be vulnerable. Everyone is trying to see who can care the least In order to look the coolest, and no one is willing to put themselves out there anymore.
I think social media is the culprit behind all of this. Everyone is too afraid of doing or saying something stupid at the risk of it ending up online, so no one does anything. If Everyone is always watching, why do anything?. It’s embarrassing to try, and even more embarrassing to fail. So not trying became the solution.
But by not trying, we’re actually trying way harder than we would in the first place if we just… didn’t care. If we stop caring what people think about us, we can actually do something with our lives. Go talk to that person. Go write that story. Go do whatever it is that you’re scared to do because you think you might suck at it.
You probably will, but that’s ok. Who knows, you might succeed anyway. If you put yourself out there, chances are you’ll be surprised at how much you can do. Try a new sport, you could be really good at it. Go talk to that person, they might like you too. Or if you try and fail, you’ll learn from it because that’s what we do. We get up and try again.
It’s okay to put yourself out there and fail, because it’s worth it every time. Who are we if we don’t try to connect with people?
And go touch some grass.
