About

I'm Sick Of Crying But Inside I'm Dying, or I'm Sick of Crying, Tired of Trying, Yeah I'm Smiling, But Inside I'm Dying, refers to an image of an anime girl evolving through various stages of crying, each stage next to a block of text containing a segment of the titular phrase. The phrase has been used online in image macros since at least 2008. The most prominent image was originally posted in 2015, becoming popularized as an exploitable in the years following.

Origin

It's unknown where the phrase, "I'm sick of crying, tired of trying, yeah I'm smiling, but inside I'm dying" started and can be found in posts as early as 2008. For example, the quote is attached to a Flickr^[11] image uploaded March 18, 2008, and in the header of Skyrock^[12] user highstar1985's blog, created that same year and last updated in 2010.

A variation of the phrase notably appears in the April 1st, 2015 Kyba Watson track "Superhero,"^[1] featuring the lyrics:

She said she's tired of trying, yeah she's sick of the crying
On the outside she's smiling but on the inside she's dying

That year, the phrase was used in a number of image macros on Facebook^[5] and Instagram^[6] for its emotional context, often next to sad imagery for effect (examples shown below from April and July 2015).

On an unknown date around August 31st, Facebook^[2] user Xlyir, aka "Admin Xel" on the "Anime Insight Academy" Facebook^[3] page, posted an original image to the page using the phrase next to images of an anime girl in various evolving stages of crying, each one representing the next stage (shown below). The original post has since been removed. On August 31st it was reposted by Facebook^[4] page "Anime no Sekai" for the first time.

Spread

People continued to use the phrase over various imagery for emotional effect on Facebook and Instagram over the next few years. For example, on November 10th, 2015, the Just Girly Things Facebook^[7] page posted the phrase over a simple white background, garnering over 2,200 shares and 8,000 reactions in roughly six years (examples shown below).

On November 13th, 2017, Facebook^[8] page AnimeWorld posted an exploited version of Admin Xel's meme replacing the text, "but inside I'm dying," with, "but inside I'm cumming," replacing the image of the anime girl with a girl doing an "ahegao" face," garnering over 600 reactions in four years. This is one of the earliest edits of the image.

Around 2018, people began using the phrase more ironically over funny imagery. For example, on March 30th, 2018, currently suspended Twitter^[10] user @extremeblitzalt posted various images of Waluigi next to the text (shown below, left). On September 17th, Instagram^[9] user @substandardcatmemes uploaded an image macro consisting of various meme cats and the phrase, garnering over 5,200 likes in three years (shown below, right).

In 2019, people began using the Admin Xel image more commonly as an exploitable, usually replacing the word "dying" with another word or phrase and changing the associated image. For example, on July 29th, Redditor u/DeLion135 posted a version replacing "dying" with The Scatman lyrics to /r/okbuddyretard,^[13] garnering over 5,100 upvotes in two years (shown below).

On August 10th, Redditor u/Lil_Totinos posted a new version of the meme to /r/OkBuddyRetard,^[14] garnering over 9,500 upvotes in two years (shown below, left). On August 29th, Facebook^[16] page "Rat" posted a version of the meme replacing "dying" with Halo 3 Rat, garnering over 4,200 shares and 4,800 reactions in nine months (shown below, right).

On December 28th, 2020, Redditor u/MellowThePotato posted a version referencing Diggy Diggy Hole to /r/memes^[15] garnering over 19,000 upvotes in five months (shown below).

Template

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References