You Can't Escape Cringe And That's Okay

Identity

2 days ago

There's one universal truth no one wants to admit: you are always someone's future cringe. It doesn't matter how sleek your outfit is today or how 'effortlessly cool' you think your vibe is, give it time. You'll look back, wince, and pretend it never happened. Cringe is the ghost that haunts every fashion choice, every caption, every fake-deep phase where you thought quoting Tumblr poetry made you wise.
We spend years running from it. Dress better, speak smarter, and stay ahead of the trends. But cringe is inevitable. It's the tax we pay for growing up. And if you want proof, let's take a quick, slightly painful trip down memory lane to Egyptian 2000s cinema.
And let's start with the one and only 'Omar & Salma'.
We were ready to throw away our teenage dignity for this relationship. We were emotionally invested. Deeply. Some of us were willing to risk it all for a guy with commitment issues who couldn't stay loyal for more than ten minutes. And don't even get me started on that wedding dress with 'I love you' written on it. That was peak fashion and the dream wedding dress for every girl.
And then there was 'El Limby', a character who became a walking meme before even memes existed. He walked, yelled, and stuttered his way into pop culture history. Was it over the top? Yes. Was it the blueprint for a thousand school impersonations? also yes. We all thought we were too cool for him until we caught ourselves quoting all his lines.
And last but not least 'Ayazon', if you grew up watching this movie, how's therapy going? It's that kind of movie that came out of a lucid dream and somehow had so many unhinged memes that live with us to this day. It was petty, over-the-top. It made zero sense. And in its weird way, we love it.
Here's the deal: all these movies were messy, loud, and cringy in a way but that's the beauty of it because they were a huge part of growing up, it's our collective cringe core. We quote them, we laugh at them, and we love them. Cringe isn't something to avoid, it's something to embrace. And at the end of the day, we should speak loudly and unapologetically about everything we love that's cringy cause every one of us has them.
So if you're going to look back and cringe anyway, Why not make it iconic?