Try Not to Cry

Try not to cry, also known as Lie down / Try not to cry / Cry a lot refers to a popular exploitable comic, also sometimes used as a reaction image, used in relation to heartwarming or soul crushing content online.

The comic is a College Humor Realistic Gym Workout Diagram, depicting the process of lying down in self-pity and proceeding to burst out in tears.

The meme is similar in nature to other memes such as Crying Behind Mask, Crying Cat and It’s Enough to Make a Grown Man Cry.

Alternatively, “Try not to cry” may also refer to a series of YouTube meme compilations, collecting videos that are seen by many as emotional.

The original comic was published online by College Humor on September 10^th, 2010, in a series of comic strips, titled Realistic Gym Workout Diagrams, with this strip specifically credited to Caldwell Tanner.

“Try not to cry”, however needed a short gestation period, before becoming an iconic meme, taking two years to be seen in various contexts, outside of the original one.

The first edits of “Try not to cry” started emerging on the internet in December 2012, appearing on various sites, like 9GAG, iFunny and me.me.

Articles about the trend also started to spawn in early 2013, on sites like Mandatory, presenting the meme series.

Over the 2010’s, “Try not to cry” retained its widespread popularity online, steadily appearing on the main social media sites like Reddit, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram throughout the years, with a slight decline beginning in 2019.

However, around the same time various “Try not to cry” compilations started to gain greater prominence on YouTube.

• Mandatory.com – ‘Try Not To Cry’ Memes Are Nothing To Laugh About