My Fifteen Minutes of Meme-dom
Let’s be honest, we’ve all dreamt of becoming famous. But trust me, becoming internet famous for a spectacularly awkward video of you tripping at your local farmers market while dressed as a giant carrot… yeah, not quite the dream.
One minute I was happily selecting organic parsnips, the next I was sprawled across the internet, my orange-clad body contorted in a way that would make even a yoga instructor wince.
The Five Stages of Meme Grief
Much like a bad breakup, becoming a meme comes with its own stages of grief:
- Denial: “This can’t be me. It’s just a bad dream. I’ll wake up any minute now.” (Spoiler alert: You don’t.)
- Anger: “Who caught this on camera?! And why, oh why, did I decide to wear THAT outfit?”
- Bargaining: “Dear universe, if you make this go away, I promise to never eat another gluten-free, sugar-free, joy-free carrot muffin again.”
- Depression: “My life is over. I’ll be forever known as ‘Carrot Guy/Girl’. My future children will be teased mercilessly.”
- Acceptance (and maybe even a little amusement): “Okay, this is pretty funny. I mean, at least I’m making people laugh, right?”
It took me a while (and maybe a few extra glasses of wine) to reach that final stage. But eventually, the shock wore off and I started to see the humor in the situation. After all, the internet loves a good laugh, and who was I to deny them that?
Turning Lemons into…Well, More Memes
The beauty of the internet is its fleeting attention span. Today’s viral sensation is tomorrow’s old news. So, I decided to embrace my newfound meme-dom while it lasted.
- I changed my social media profile picture to a screenshot of the infamous carrot fall.
- I started selling “I Survived the Great Carrot Catastrophe” t-shirts (a surprising number of people bought them).
- I even went on a local radio show to tell my story (they provided me with a safety harness, just in case).
Instead of fighting the meme, I owned it. And surprisingly, that’s what made it die down faster.