There are a million different things that have the potential to stress us out, but there is only one way to express it in trending meme form.

Whether experiencing anxiety, anger, or worry, there is no need to overcomplicate it. It’s simply a chemical reaction involving one particular thing that has become ingrained in the slang of the moment. Cortisol is the hormone our bodies produce that is said to manage stress, and it’s now a buzzword that describes every crash-out or attempt at prompting one.

Cortisol spikes are what everybody online enough is trying to avoid, whether they are a looksmaxxing giant like Clavicular or a random sh*tposter. It is the enemy of the nonchalance that so many of us desperately desire, and if many are to be believed, it makes us look not only more foolish, but also more ugly.