PEORIA MAGAZINE November 2022

T W E N T Y S O M E T H I N G : C O M M E N T A R Y REJECTING ‘COOL’ Your early 20s are a time to try, fail, learn

BY CECE HILL

I have a confession to make. think I was cool. Yes, when I was 15, I wore trendy glasses I didn’t actually need. I bought AC/DC t-shirts even though I only knew about AC/DC fromwatching “School of Rock” withmy dad. I wanted towear the right brands, listen to the right music, and do the right things. I only started drinking coffee because I thought it would make the seniors in our high school play

come to recognize that there are still moments when I fall back into that habitual reaching towards “coolness.” It happens when I’m unsure of myself or, more specifically, unsure about what comes next. As I get older, I have become more consciously aware of the liberation achieved by rejecting the notion of “cool.” According to Merriam Webster Dictionary, there are a plethora of definitions for the word “cool,” ranging from “very good” and “excellent” to “fashionable” or “alright.” It’s a word that, by definition, doesn’t mean much at all. Trends have become increasingly bold, like platform sneakers or building a tiny indoor house for your French bulldog. From fashion to hobbies, the COVID-19 pandemic forced us to take a good, hard look in the mirror. Isolation and tragedy forced us to tunnel into the deepest parts of ourselves and figure out what we liked, simply because we

liked it, not because it was expected of us. The truth is, life is too short to play pretend for the sake of an aesthetic. Growing out of trying to cultivate a perfectly crafted image means we have room to innovate and think creatively about the things we are genuinely passionate about, two habits that lead not only to personal fulfillment but often to success. It seems cliché to point out the correlation between success and unapologetic passion — a trait that is inherently “uncool.” In his book Outliers: The Story of Success , Malcolm Gladwell invented the “10,000 Rule” – his belief that it takes 10,000 hours of intense practice to achieve mastery in any endeavor. If you look at examples of extreme success – say, published authors and famous musicians – it seemsmost highly skilledand successful individuals had no room for “coolness” when perfecting their crafts.

LIFE IS TOO SHORT TO PLAY PRETEND FOR THE SAKE OF AN AESTHETIC

While it’s not something I’m proud of, I do believe it’s often a necessary evil within the process of maturation. You must first be foolish and impressionable to later understand exactly what you want and why you want it. That said, as I reach my mid-20s, I have

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