The On-Camera Cringe Won’t Kill You. The Cure Is Practice.
You don’t have to love your voice or your face. You just have to keep showing up.
You know that moment when you see and hear yourself in a TikTok or Reel you just filmed (thanks to that inescapable process called “editing”!), and immediately want to light your phone on fire and delete your entire existence off the internet?
Yeah. The cringe.
I get it.
And I’m about to tell you why that feeling is completely normal—
and exactly how to get past it.
Firstly, it’s not because your voice is objectively “bad.”
It’s not because you “always look weird.”
It’s not because you’re secretly broken or hopeless.
This feeling is not a you problem; it is a human problem.
Human beings simply weren’t built to experience themselves from the outside.
Prehistoric Humans Did Not Take Selfies.
Our ancestors—and I mean the ancient, prehistoric, hunting-and-gathering kind—only caught blurry glimpses of their reflection in puddles and ponds.
They only heard their voices in echoes off cave walls.
Those muddled, imperfect mirrors were the extent to which they saw themselves from the outside.
Ultimately, yes, mirrors were invented, and people became very skilled at painting (likely very flattering) portraits.
However, it wasn’t until very recently in human history that recording devices entered the picture.
And then they entered every home, every pocket, until—
You can see yourself. Hear yourself. Analyze yourself.
In crisp 4k resolution.
Constantly.
FaceTime. Zoom. TikTok. Instagram. Endless digital reflections.
All while our brains are screaming:
Cringing = judgment.
Every time you go to edit a video, you’re seeing yourself through the lens of every unreasonable expectation you’ve beaten yourself up over for years.
You’re seeing yourself through the lens of every criticism you dish out to others, and all of those you expect to receive right back.
In short: when you watch yourself on screen, you're not seeing yourself—you're judging yourself.
(And yes, the judgments we place on others are a reflection of the judgments we place on ourselves. Judging the sound of your voice, or the way you look on screen, is no exception.)
You’ve got to remember:
We weren't designed to see and hear ourselves in this way.
Cringing at yourself is really just part of meeting yourself in a phase of growth that you're not comfortable in yet, and
Sometimes you're a judgmental bitch, and that's okay.
So how do you get over the cringe?
By practicing.
Over and over and over again.
That’s it; that’s the secret.
Feel free to click away from this post now and go and do the thing.
Record yourself. Watch yourself. Cringe. Post anyway.
I know. You expected a mystical secret, or even just for me to say something like, “self-compassion” or “be kinder to yourself.”
I’m not saying don’t do that. Maybe do try to judge yourself a tiny bit less. But, also know that your inner critic will get a whole lot quieter on its own after some old-fashioned exposure therapy.
Getting used to the sound of your voice or watching yourself on camera is just like becoming desensitized to anything else.
Take me for example. I have probably made 2,172 videos at this point because I've been making almost daily videos for three fucking years.
I am no longer bothered.
(I mean, you can go check out the video that inspired this post, where I am literally bending over a kitchen island and, like, shoving myself in the camera because the angle is absolutely terrible I chose. I didn’t really care what I looked like. I didn’t care what I sounded like. I’ve become so used to it that I don’t care anymore because I've done it thousands of times.)
Your first 112 videos are probably going to feel terrible.
That’s okay. That’s the assignment.
It’s time to stop diagnosing yourself with the intractable disease called “I hate the sound of my voice. I hate what I look on camera,” after filming, like, four videos.
Make 113 videos.
Then come back and tell me if it still feels impossible.
Because it won’t.
You’ll have changed.
You’ll have gotten used to your own reflection—not because you became perfect, but because you built resilience by showing up anyway.
And if you want to build a business? A community? Become a creator? Have an online body of work you're proud of?
You are going to have to get used to showing up and being seen.
Cringing is just part of the price of entry.
Post anyway.
Cringing with you,
Justin
P.S. If this hit home, hit "Subscribe" so you don’t miss the next one. I’ll be here, helping you show up—one cringey video at a time.