I don’t do “low-key.”
Not willing to admit or accept I am the aging dude waving a fist to GET OFF MY LAWN as the lingo and vernacular of the youth and/or pop culture pass me by. I have been cool with skibidi. I acknowledge 6 – 7. I understand, and have been known to display, rizz.
But no low-key.
I have heard this more and more, of course with the youth and then, as always, it spreads. I low-key enjoy this. I low-key am a fan of that. I low-key feel this emotion. I low-key want to do this.
The skibidi, the rizz, sigma and even the Ohio hate/obsession are all just new waves of groovy, gag me with a spoon, far out, gnarly and all those others.
Low-key is a cowardly, half-assed, noncommittal way of expressing yourself out of fear of not being accepted.
I will explain. Because ending this here would be cowardly, half-assed, and noncommittal. And as I began this, I don’t do low-key.
I am outspoken about who I am and the things I put myself through. The pains I put myself through and the lies I told the world and myself. It took me a while to not just discover who I was, but to allow myself to pursue that. I was living cowardly, half-assed and in a noncommittal way. I was living low-key.
I encourage others to be their true self. People need to recognize what they are supposed to be, what they desire to be, what they think might even be impossible…and to run towards it.
To use the expression “low-key” is to not be you. It is a veiled attempt to make a stand, a vow, to express an emotion or desire but to do it softly and timidly. It is a safety harness for that, oh, such overvalued opinion of others.
It is walking into a room, but leaving the door open and one foot outside incase you need to back peddle. Cowardly.
It is not being honest about you truly feel. Not fully owning the thought. Half-assed.
It is allowing room to back up and disown the original comment. Noncommittal.
We all have different tastes and different opinions. Different hopes, views, likes and dislikes. And I know, for many, many years…(and I know there are others like me)…I protected my true self because I wanted to shelter me from the world. And I made choices and expressed thoughts based on my desire to fit in. Living low-key.
I see this. I see “I low-key like this song.” “I low-key want to go.” “I low-key feel this way.” This is an unnecessary, self-imprisoning precaution. We are so wound up with what a friend, a parent, a coworker, a colleague will think, we leave an escape route. If they do not approve of our low-keyness, we can easily back peddle. Step back out of the room. Downplay how much we really feel, because hey, I said lo-key. I didn’t really mean it.
But you do mean it. That’s why you said it. That’s why you felt it. That’s why you liked it or want it or seek it or approve or hate it.
The only way to live is intently.
I shutter with the thought of recovering low-key. I would’ve died by now.
But it isn’t always about MY roads traveled. Intent. No low-key. If you want it, WANT it. If you like it, allow yourself to LIKE it. Indulge. Sing the words and wear the shirt. If you feel it, allow yourself to FEEEEEEEEEEL it wholeheartedly. Embrace it. BE it. It is who you are and it is who you are man to be. There is only one YOU and the world doesn’t need or want your low-key version.
My son told me the other day something he had seen that he liked. When they make fun of you for being different, make fun of them for being all the same.
Low-key is all the same. Complacency is all the same. Afraid to commit and jump in and enjoy is all the same.
Be who the f**k your supposed to be. And none of us are designed to be low-key. Eliminate this phrase. Eliminate this mindset. Indulge in your spirit’s desires. Celebrate your uniqueness. Feel, like, love, hate anything and everything you want. Fully. Intently. Own it. Own yourself. And let the world see you shine.
Low-key is dead.
Long live intensity.
All damn day.
#livefree #lovehard #unloaded