It's no secret that we're all a bunch of little weirdos as kids. Part of growing up means going through some *interesting* phases while searching for your own sense of identity.
Reddit user u/tenamonth posed the question, "What 'embarrassing phase' did you go through as a teenager?" and the responses had me on the floor. I decided to ask the BuzzFeed Community a similar question, and boy was it good. Here are the most hysterical responses from the two threads:
1. "I thought I was a werewolf in ninth grade, recruited dozens of students into a ‘pack,’ and even managed to rope a counselor into it, which wound up getting her fired for hosting ‘magic rituals’ with us instead of counseling us. I can’t live it down to this day."
2. "From first grade until my freshmen year, I wore a hot dog shirt every day to school. I still have around 30–40 hot dog shirts I don’t wear anymore. Still don’t know why I did that."
3. "I started a rap crew based on Winnie the Pooh. I was Pooh Daddy, my friend was the Notorious T.I.G., and another friend was Big O. We were writing a song called 'Honey Rhymes with Money.' The name of this group? Pooh Tang Clan."
4. "COWS! I wore cow leggings three to four times a week and would write my crush notes on cow stationary. The first time I met my sister-in-law, I was stenciling cows for my bedroom."
5. "When I was a teenager, I was a huge WWE fan. There was this wrestler named Edge, who would perch in high places inside the arena and watch the matches for months before he made his actual debut. Because I thought it was badass, I used to do the same thing. I'd find high places and just perch there like a gargoyle for hours. I did this in trees, on people's roofs, on ledges, anywhere that I could climb. I would just sit there, crouched and motionless, watching people's reactions when they'd see me."
6. "I used to want to sound like a cool, edgy, emo writer or something, so I would narrate, aloud, the things that were happening around me. I remember at a family event we were roasting s'mores and I was just like, 'Fire, slowly burning, destroying and turning everything black...' I can't remember any more because I'm cringing too hard."
7. "My friends and I had a really strong Twilight phase. We were diehard fans. We only spoke in Twilight quotes, styled our hair like the main characters, and watched the movies several times in a week. Every one of us was one member from the Cullen family. We even changed our names and were upset when someone else called us by our real names. Since we were all girls, all the male characters were imaginary. I remember one time we sat on a bench and someone else wanted to sit and my friend was like, 'No, you can't sit here. Edward's already sitting here,' but of course no one would actually be there."
8. "I'd write cheesy, overwrought love letters to the girls I dated for a month or two. 'Sometimes, I just want to hold you until you fucking crumble.'"
9. "I was OBSESSED with Alvin and the Chipmunks. I even renamed myself Simon. Cringe."
10. "I spoke in a British accent. I'm from the southern US."
11. "I would bark like a dog for no reason. I remember we were shopping at Walmart one time and I started barking. Of course I made sure the aisle was empty so no one could witness I was the barker. From an aisle over, I heard a little boy start to bark. It’s like he was following in my footsteps."
12. "I had business cards made (waaay before Vistaprint) that had my name, number and the title 'Knight in Shining Armor.' I would hand these out, with a smile, to any person that I found attractive, in or out of school."
13. "I tried to convince people that I had a twin. I even had 'her' come to school one day."
14. "I wore a cat collar to school with a bell on it because I thought it was cool."
15. "I would imagine myself as a Marvel superhero and have fantasies about my secret identity being revealed during a fight in front of the whole school, where everyone would be shocked and amazed at how wrong they were about me."
16. "In middle school, I went through a phase of slicking my long hair back into a tight bun at the nape of my neck. I used a ton of gel to make sure my hair didn’t move. I also only plucked one eyebrow and made it super arched."
17. "I went through an intense Frozen phase. I knew the words to the entire movie, and I watched it daily. I even collected stuffed Olafs, and I still have a playlist on my phone of "Let It Go" covers. I had so many shirts, I could wear a different one for a month and a half."
18. "There was a time frame where quiet, little me wanted to stand out. I wore different types of Osiris shoes, one navy blue and the other white and red. I also wore jeans with gaping holes in them. For some of the jeans, I had to wear shorts underneath to cover certain areas."
19. "I had a boy band fan phase. One Direction was super popular at the time, and I was obsessed. I had every product imaginable, including shirts from the kids section of Walmart and Hot Topic. I would post pictures and posts about them every single day and defend them if anyone talked badly about them. I was 16! I still cringe when I see my old posts in memories on Facebook."
20. "In junior high, my best friend and I wore basketball shorts over jeans. It lasted maybe two weeks. I still cringe when I think of it."
21. Finally: "For a long time in the '90s, my hair was a rock-hard helmet of gel, with a ruler-straight part down the middle and the front pushed up. I would not leave the house unless it was *just right.* I also did the tiny Stüssy t-shirt paired with giant JNCO jeans. Or, I'd wear a horrible, scratchy, polyester bowling-style shirt also paired with JNCOs. Looking back, I wonder if I was going for some kind of triangle silhouette?"
Did you go through a cringey phase when you were younger? You're not alone! Tell us all about it in the comments below!
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.