Are you haunted by embarrassing memories? Do you still cringe about things that happened years, or even decades ago? If so, then “Cringeworthy” will set you free!
Do you still shudder with embarrassment when you remember standing in front of the school with egg on your shirt? Or the time you travelled to work on public transport with your jumper on inside out? It could have been years, or even decades ago; you could be seventy years old and still cringing about things that happened when you were five. If you are haunted by painful memories of ancient humiliations, which feel as raw as though they just happened, then we have some good news for you.
You’re not alone. We’ve all been there. We’re all pursued by these cringeworthy memories that simply will not go away. At last, we have the weapon to fight back. “Cringeworthy” will guide you through the process of dealing with these pesky demons once and for all. Using the simple techniques outlined in this app, you will be able to cast off these horrible memories
The process is straightforward. Start by imagining that the incident happened to your best friend. Now, try to invent a headline for the incident, but as though you were writing for a popular newspaper. Try to be as humorous as you can. The title should refer to the incident heppeneing to someone else.
Next, describe the incident but as though you were a bystander. The incident didn’t happen to you, it happened to your best friend. Go into as much detail mis you can. Describe what the person was wearing, what time of day it was, what the weather was like; the more details you can remember the better. It’s sometimes useful to read the descriptions aloud.
Next, imagine that you are talking to your friend about whatever it was that upset him or her. What advice would you offer? Write down what you would say to your friend, and again its useful to read your advice aloud. Next, think about how serious the incident was. On a scale of 0 to 10, where 10 is someone has die, and 9 is your house has burnt down. Just how important was the incident?
Next record how old your friend was when the incident occurred, and how old he or she was. Seriously, there are people who are in their sixties and are still embarrassed about some silly childish faux pas they committed when they were five. Let’s think about the concept of a “sell by date”. Most of us wouldn’t buy or eat food after its sell by date, and the same applies to bad memories. Anything more than a month old has past it sell by date. bin it!
Finally, let’s get rid of the thing once and for all. Most of us have plenty of compassion for others; it’s in compassion for ourselves that we fall short. What we’re going to do now is show your friend compassion. Click the button. Set him free.
Our thanks to Melissa Dahl who’s book “Cringeworthy: A Theory of Awkwardness” was an inspiration, and also to Ethan Kross, who’s book “Chatter: The Voice in Our Head and How to Harness It” provided many useful insights.