I will fully admit that I was a weird kid growing up and that’s translated to being a strange adult.
I’ve never subscribed to things I were told were “trendy” or popular – especially when they’re brand new.
On one hand that’s probably saved me a ridiculous amount of time, frustration, and money overall.
On the other, it makes it harder to relate to people that do embrace trends or innovations.
Those are among many reasons why I blame my mom for my weirdness.
She taught all of us – my siblings included - to embrace our differences and pursue things that bring us joy or that we love.
For my brother, it’s computers and some mechanical work and for my sister it’s plants and arts and crafts.
Me, well, it lead to an over-abundance of books, a music collection spanning several decades and a handful of close-knit friendships.
Looking back, I know some of it was born out of necessity and growing up in the times we lived in.
But, now it’s sort of ingrained into my personality and a facet of my life.
My mom would remind us every year before school started that our true friends would still be there for us and that we would have the chance to make new ones, too.
When we became teenagers, she added caveats to her words of wisdom that cautioned us about growing up getting harder for everyone experiencing it and that we couldn’t control our friends or people around us, but that we could control how we reacted to it and our own behaviors.
Also, she reminded us often that we might not know what is happening in another person’s life to cause them to act with malice or be a bully.
So, we just had to know what kind of repercussions we could face based on how we engaged in certain situations.
But, my absolute favorite words of wisdom were about how trends were recycled every few years and that not wearing the latest thing or having the newest technology didn’t make us any less important or unique.
I think that’s a sentiment that some parents have lost or failed to pass on to their kids now.
Especially when back-to-school time rolls around!
Every school district across the nation has a problem with discipline in reference to bullying in some form or fashion.
And, with more widespread social media interactions, bullying has risen to another level that I never would have predicted.
Which is why I’m glad I grew up when I did and that my mom encouraged us to be ourselves and treat others as kindly as possible.
After all, the latest and greatest cell phone, regurgitated fashion iteration, or name brand limited edition items like Jordans were only trendy for a year or less – a season and then people moved on to the latest and greatest thing as soon as they could.
But, a good person with a good head on their shoulders is sort of timeless and seems to transcend trends.
Besides, having weird or quirky interests or mannerisms can make you far more memorable than someone concerned with labels and keeping up with the Joneses!
