Long Hair, Long Socks, and Velcro Shoes

I love watching those old Maury “geek to chic” episodes.

You remember them, right? They came on in the middle of the afternoon before the judge shows.

“I was bullied and beat… Now, I’m hot, sexy, and sweet!”

And, while I wasn’t bullied* or beat-up in school, I was definitely far from cool.

* - there were a few name-calling sessions. I was obese with acne. It is what it is. Yeah, I’m looking at you, Clear Lake High School c/o ‘08)

I recently moved to a new apartment. While unpacking this week, I found a trove of old pictures: from my cute baby years, to my awkward middle school years, all the way to high school graduation.

Flipping through the photos -- with a memory tied to almost every snapshot -- I noticed the “uncool” kid. But it wasn't the acne, or the pudge, or the dork aesthetic. I noticed that uncool kid evolving over the years: unbothered by the current trends, unfazed by what he didn’t have, and determined to keep his mindset on the bigger picture.

I’m really blessed to have that mindset because there’s another point here: As I reflect on the journey I noticed how the momentary blips of cosmetic uncool over the years are the very societal definitions of totally cool now.

Let me give you a few beautiful examples:

That? That’s me. Fifth grade. I had long, thick combed-back hair throughout middle school. I was tubby. And I’m not sure what was happening with my eyebrows. But that? *gestures at all of that hot mess* That wasn’t the trend in the early 2000s -- at least not where I grew up.

The trend was to have super-short hair.

(Also in season were those sweat armbands and the absolutely-awful brown-on-brown Polo Ralph Lauren boots.)

But, my family? We didn’t do any of that. We’d go 5-6 weeks before a haircut. And my hair was seemingly the only part of me going through puberty, shooting out of my head.

At the time, it definitely made me seem less cool than the rest.

But now? Have you looked around? Long hair is the hair to have.

Pony tail, man-bun, beach wave, nu wave, you name it. Short on the sides but LONG on the top: Gents, you know you’ve asked for it. We all have.

But it gets better:

Long socks.

I ONLY had long athletic socks as a kid. Knee-highs. Calf-highs. Never did I ever have those cool no-show athletic socks. I felt like such a dork when standing next to all of my friends on the basketball court.

(I played center and scored an average of 2 points per game, thank you very much)

But now? Every one of y’all are out, rockin’ the long athletic socks.

I shake my head in amazement every time I see a pair.

And let’s pair those socks with Velcro shoes. Did you have Velcro shoes as a kid? You were uncool like me if ya did! Or, so the other kids made it seem: Bragging about their $100, $200 basketball shoes. But my grey no-name Velcro shoes cost less than $15 from Walmart and they got the job done.

And now?!

I about blew a gasket with a psychotic laugh when I saw Kanye West’s Yeezys have VELCRO STRAPS! Velcro shoes selling for hundreds of dollars! There’s a sucker born every minute.

Long hair, long socks, Velcro shoes.

A dork you would be back then. A hip, trendy bro you are now.

It’s all cyclical BS. What’s deemed uncool now will be cool in a few years.

Now that you’ve had your laugh, back to the bigger point in this:

From my classmates' point of view, I didn’t have it all. And that was such a great thing.

Growing up, my mind wasn’t and couldn't be distracted by the trivial.

I didn’t waste time sweating the small stuff because I was always in the pursuit of my bigger, better, worthwhile dreams. What was actually meaningful is what had my focus.

I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. I made a career out of it! I co-anchored the morning show on my high school’s closed-circuit TV network and ended up getting a thriving career in television news, working full-time in a huge market by the age of 19.

The journey of each pursuit has been clearer and more developed since childhood because my mind naturally sweeps the minutia off the table.

I’m like a dog latching on to a toy when it comes to the big thing: I WANT IT.

The small stuff is just noise.

And so, while people looking at me as a kid might not have thought I had it all, I clearly did.

One August day before school started, I went with my dad to American Eagle to purchase some cool book-bag: A book-bag at the time I thought I needed. But in this parade of prepsters and entitlement, there was this feeling of dissatisfaction: That a fickle, material item purchased to bring me one step closer toward the herd was actually causing me to take a step back from my clearer path toward an actual goal.

Ownership of an overpriced book bag wasn’t my mission in life. (It wasn’t even propelling me further toward any mission)

The mission was internal: The pursuit of meaning… of substance… of passion.

Trying to fit in pulled me further away from standing out and thriving.

And hey, look, if you think you’re craving some trendy thing: go for it. See how it feels. Determine what you truly think. But don’t let that temporary moment distract you from the bigger idea, the bigger picture, and the bigger pursuits in your life.

So, Maury my man, I know you’re still around. If you want to do an episode called: “My hair was long, my socks were longer, and I had Velcro shoes, but now I’m thirty, flirty, and thriving and my mindset rules,” you know where to reach me.

LFG. Let's fucking go.