Hustling

A few reflections at the braiders'

I have spent nearly $500 across five days and three braiders to get my hair braided. It finally got done today. I had five hours to think about — well, anything. Here are a few of those thoughts:

• Everyone around me is drowning in bad luck and trying to keep themselves afloat with a dejected optimism.

• The people that want babies can’t have them and the ones that don’t can’t get rid of them. I am somehow both.

• We’re all out here hustling, trying to get from Point A to Point B, whether on a Greyhound or through Cash App.

  

• Certainly more than any time in the past two years, I’m extremely into my looks this summer. Maybe it’s my looming 35th birthday. Maybe it’s just that I have more plans. But I sure do care how the world sees me. Hence me spending nearly $500 on my hair in one week after not spending more than $200 in two years.

• Speaking of plans, having them is stressing me out. I have one very big trip planned in two weeks, and I will be just gutted if it doesn’t happen.

• The past year has been about me really going after the things I want in life. Whether that’s a family, love, freedom, or talent, I’ve been putting myself “out there” more than ever. Sometimes to devastating results; sometimes to pleasant surprises. I’m not sure how people do this all the time though.

• Regarding my hair, it took 55 minutes before the first braid was done, but I was finished 4 hours after that.

• I find hustle culture so fascinating. I could watch people confidently tell me how to make passive income all day. I have no desire to do it, nor do I trust them. I just think that the entire economy created around making money exclusively by telling other people how to make money is such an interesting grift.

• My hair braider is from Birmingham and she has an accent that white gay men would kill for.