Be effortless, be breezy, be insensitive, be cool.Â
Take hours to ruffle your hair, so it looks like you’ve just gotten out of bed. Wear 3/4th to college, even though it’s freezing balls outside. Exchange your specs for contacts. Keep a cigarette to your lips, especially in social situations. Dream of buying a big, fancy car, dream of riding on a dangerous two wheeler in Leh Ladakh. Spend your money on fads you don’t care about and girls who are out of your league.
Always brag in the presence of another male, to establish your alpha status.
Wear your shades like a badge of honour. Play with her feelings, keep her guessing about the status of your relationship, even though you’re dying to ask her out. Brag about your sexual conquests, even though what you feel for her is way above lust. Always chug your beer, have sex by 18, even if you’re not ready. Pretend like the break-ups don’t affect you, because you never bothered to care as much, even though your heart is breaking. Pretend like failing in class isn’t a bump in the road, because everyone cool fails.
Act cool, they tell you. Act like you don’t care.
You don’t get jealous if someone flirts with her, you don’t care if she cheats on you, you don’t care if you don’t get an A+, because you are cooler than that. And if you aren’t then you aren’t manly enough for this world.
Aren’t you tired of this charade?
Aren’t you tired of pretending? Of liking things you can’t stand? Of saying stuff that you think is crass? Of not caring, when in fact you do? Of hiding your feelings and playing games, when all you want to do is be honest?
Stop pretending to be ‘cool’, it’s not cool anymore. Be yourself instead.
Don’t hide behind an image society wants you to portray, don’t be the shadow to a person you don’t even recognize. Be yourself, be kind, be sensitive and start CARING. Because everyone cares and that’s what makes us human.
Nice guys don’t finish last, they make it to the top of every list.
Hold the door open because you want to, pull out a chair because you’ve been taught that way, don’t describe her body, describe her sense of humor or how she makes you feel emotionally. Don’t hold back your feelings, write a song, sing a poem or just simply let it out. Because life’s complicated enough, without having to play mind games. Cry like the relationship actually meant something to you, because we all know it did.
Let it out, because you’re going to be the boss of future ‘cool’ guys and you need to teach them better. Be a man your mother would be proud of.Â