Evolution: Freedom to Like Onions… and other things

I have a few questions for you.  Who are you? Who were you? Who will you be?  Evolving is such an interesting and messy and wonderful and difficult and natural process.  Too often we do not allow ourselves the freedom to change and become. We hold ourselves hostage to being how we have always been, even if we don’t like it.  Equally as detrimental, we let other people hold us to what they knew of and expect of us.  Just because that’s who I was before, doesn’t mean that I have to stay that way forever. 

When I was a kid, I hated onions.  I do not really know why; but I did. I think I just always told myself that I did not like them. As a result, I told people to hold the onions, or just picked them out without even trying it.   One day, a friend convinced me to try a meal the way it came and it had red onions on it.  I actually enjoyed it. I couldn’t believe it!  It took me almost 32 years to try the onions and realize that I have been missing out for a really long time.  A few years later, I reconnected with someone that I hadn’t seen in years and when we were talking about food, the person said, “that’s right, you don’t like onions.”  I said, “Interestingly, enough I do” and I continued speaking of my new found enjoyment of onions.  I no longer ask the waiter to hold the onions; I just make sure I have some breath mints in my purse.

So what’s the point?  What I disliked thirty years ago changed with new experiences, and I allowed myself the freedom to try something new.  More than just my culinary preferences, I have also tried many new things and have become someone new.  Now the process of change is more than just onions. It involves many other things.  It comes with trial and error as well as trial and success. You can change your mind.  You can change your preferences.  You can maintain what you have always liked. You can walk away.  There may have been a time in your life when you may have needed something or someone.  It’s ok that you don’t anymore.  You don’t have to stay in a situation because that’s what it used to be.  I heard that “loyalty, like milk, has an expiration date.”  You know what can happen if you drink expired milk.  Depending on how old it is, you can get extremely sick.  Staying in something past the expiration date can also have adverse effects on your health: emotionally and physically.

I just want to remind you that it’s ok to change. Keep going and keep growing.  Being told you are changing is not an insult, even if the person is trying to be hurtful when they say it.  Do what’s best for you.  If the “milk” is expired, throw it out.  If you like the onions now, eat them without apology.  Keep becoming your best self! You’ll thank yourself later.