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O.M.G.! That’s Cringy - September's Side Eyed Monk
O.M.G.! That’s Cringy — when your face can’t help but silently scream, but you still have to play it cool in front of everyone.
September arrives quietly, but it does not come empty handed. Along with softer sunlight and shifting routines, it brings those moments that make you freeze in secondhand embarrassment. You cannot unsee them, but you try anyway. This is the month when awkwardness shows up like an uninvited guest and expects polite company.
September’s monk knows this feeling well.
At first glance, he seems calm. Neutral posture. Serene face. But look closer. That side eye tells the full story. He is not panicking. He is silently taking note of every cringe-worthy choice around him, cataloging the awkward, the earnest, and the just plain painful. His expression does the work words cannot.
What you cannot see in the painting is how much effort it takes. His lips are pressed tight, barely holding back a grimace, as if he is swallowing a bad joke. His fingers curl around a slightly frayed string of prayer beads, not for meditation, but for survival. They act as a stress ball for moments that make him think, please do not let this get worse.
He did not always look like this.
Before the robes, there were meetings. Endless ones. A world of swivel chairs and video calls where words like synergy, mindfulness, and circle back were tossed around with alarming enthusiasm. Every forced attempt at corporate calm made him cringe harder than the last. After one marathon discussion on strategic alignment, he slipped away to a nearby temple garden, not so much seeking enlightenment as silence.
The stillness did not fix everything, but it gave him space. Space to trade buzzwords for breathing and button downs for robes. Space to find his own rhythm. Still, serenity never stuck. The side eye became a necessity.
Now, whenever he encounters something painfully earnest or deeply awkward—overcommitted chanting, overly positive affirmations, or anyone trying too hard to cleanse the vibe—his expression says it all. Enlightenment, he has learned, is not about forced smiles. Sometimes it is restraint. Sometimes it is simply knowing when to laugh quietly from the back row.
September’s cringy monk reminds us that not every moment needs a smile. Some moments need acknowledgment, a well timed side eye, and maybe the quiet understanding that life is often ridiculous.
Think of a moment of secondhand embarrassment that stopped you in your tracks. Write about it, sketch it, or capture the feeling creatively. Did you freeze, laugh, or quietly judge? What did that moment reveal to you?
If September is all side eyed awkwardness, October leans fully into silent suffering.
Thanks for reading The 3rd Flamingo, a blog for art lovers, creative wanderers, and anyone who has ever witnessed something so cringy it made their soul squirm.
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