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How 'Damn Daniel' Helped Me Enjoy Wearing Sneakers Again

How 'Damn Daniel' Helped Me Enjoy Wearing Sneakers Again

Over the years, I’ve come to realise that the longer I spend being into sneakers, the more irrational I become. For ages, I’ve been incapable of wearing the same pair of shoes two days in a row, resulting in a headache picking what to wear each morning. That was until this summer, when an internet meme from 2016 randomly came back into my consciousness, and somehow helped me overcome this mental hurdle.

The meme in question is ‘Damn Daniel’, a viral Twitter video narrated by high school student Josh Holz repeatedly saying ‘Daaaamn Daniel’ in increasingly dumb voices as he documents his classmate’s daily outfit. Pretty lowbrow stuff, but a pivotal moment arrives when Holz exclaims ‘back at it again with the white Vans’. This doesn’t require that much psychoanalysis, but it means Daniel wore the same shoes more than once – something I wasn’t yet capable of.

There was a strict uniform policy at the high school I attended – think blue button-up shirts, navy slacks, and, worst of all, black leather lace up shoes. The only reprieve I had was PE, where I could wear sneakers. Those 80 minutes every Tuesday during my formative adolescent years resulted in me yearning for self expression through my footwear, whereby I was able to wear something different each week. Naturally, I resented having to wear the same thing day in, day out; as soon as I left high school I revelled in having a proper sneaker rotation.

It’s been over a decade since then. Now with hundreds of pairs, choosing what to wear is a downright burden. Downsizing the collection has helped make the decision easier, as has buying general releases, but having too much choice is still the ultimate chore. All because I refused to wear the same pair two or more days in a row.

Back to Daniel. Over this past summer, I returned to my hometown to visit my parents. Coming home always brings back an intense feeling of nostalgia for simpler times. Some of that involved watching inane meme videos from yesteryear, which somehow had me tuning back into ‘Damn Daniel’. For some reason, this stupid Twitter video had me inspired to buy a pair.

It was a convenient premise for this story. I only had the shoes I flew in with, and they were not suited to the hot and humid conditions I returned to. Needing something fresh to get me by, I went down to the local shopping centre and picked up a pair of white Vans Authentics. That in itself was refreshing, simply being able to buy and wear something available in perpetuity.

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