What is cool?  And who cares?  Well, to be totally honest, me sometimes.  And if you’re being totally honest, you sometimes, too.  I’m not sure how old you have to be to truly have zero regard for what is cool amongst peers, colleagues, friends, social media networks, etc. but I’m 26 and cool is still a thing amongst mine.   Whether it comes in the form of desperation to buy every new insanely overpriced “it” item worn by every “it” girl around town designed by whatever “it” designer is hot right now, spending more on your car lease than your rent so you drive around town looking minted, going to the “right” parties to acquire social media gold but not enjoying yourself one bit or whatever other effort you feel the need to put in to strive towards appearing, being, feeling “cool”… the fact is, it all sounds pretty damn lame.  Doesn’t it? 

Cool is relative, of course.  What is cool amongst one social, demographic or geographic group may not be considered cool amongst another.  A hipster isn’t cool to a Kardashian isn’t cool to a techie isn’t cool to an athlete… or maybe they are.  Maybe some techies think athletic style is badass and maybe some Kardashian-clones think hipster life is the shit.  And vice versa and none of the above.  The point is, every individual has their own definition of cool… right?  Meh…

Who’s to say what cool is or isn’t when everyone’s “own” definition is merely comprised of different things society has marketed as cool/desireable, anyway?  The only people with real say are corporations and conglomerates whose marketing ploys are influential enough to convince the masses to claim these desires as their own.  We’ve all succumbed to wanting to be cool and wanting to be anti-cool because that’s cooler than being cool at times in our lives.  So because we have and do and will again, I thought I’d blab about it, have a community chuckle about and attempt to bestow a new definition on the term.

Cool is doing you, surrounding yourself by people that celebrate you for doing so and embracing and celebrating others for doing the same for themselves.  Cool is not a focus on the materialistic or the popular.  Cool is valuing the genuine and the human and sharing love and encouragement.  If there are “cool” people in your life that aren’t that don’t fit this definition, then they ain’t cool, they’re fools.  

SHENAE GRIMES-BEECH

Shenae Grimes-Beech is an actor and YouTuber with a highly engaged community of like-minded women who are here to stand up for what they believe in and lean into discomfort, especially when it means doing the right thing.