Once upon a time, I saw sneakers. Leather and rubber and textiles and glue. But now...it seems a lot of what I'm seeing are the tricky marketing tactics behind these drops. For a quarter of a century now (holy sh*t) I've waged a losing battle against my own psyche and it's role in my personal sneaker consumption. No matter how many times I tell myself 'just one more pair', it's never really just one more pair. And I think that's because I can find something interesting or compelling about nearly every pair in existence. Recently, though, I've been trying to pay more attention to my internal dialogue...and not the external messaging that we've all been exposed to. Take this Jarritos release, for instance. At first, like all y'all, I was drawn in: childhood memories of Tacos Jalisco in Truckee in 1996...and a refreshing sip to help wash down those 3/$1 tacos in Tijuana at 'Taco Bell' in 2005 or so....But the more I thought it about...the more I just started wondering...I mean...really...do I actually care? As soon as I realized I didn't actually care, I felt a momentary bit of liberation. But...of course...that didn't shield me from the barrage of IG and Twitter posts talking about every single thread on 'em...(for the love of god, give it a rest). If you snagged a W and got your order cancelled, I feel for you. That SUCKS and the companies that willingly take advantage of our time and our psychology are seriously some of the worst entities on the planet...But I have faith that we're gonna be alright. I think the cheat code to this whole thing...is being honest with yourself. And I know the question can easily get muddled...especially in the heat of the moment. If you feel yourself pining for some pic you just saw on the 'gram, remember to ask yourself...'if these were a GR, would I even care?'