When I was 10 years old, I thought I knew myself. I thought I didn’t like vegetables, girls or sports, but when I was 14 a miracle happened! I liked all those things. When I was 16 I didn’t like studying, talking to my parents or going to school. And again a miracle happened, I suddenly liked all those things when I turned 20.
Well, that’s not really a miracle, I just grew up and changed. But an important lesson is that I didn’t know myself. The weird thing is, that we keep thinking we know ourselves. We keep thinking that our past experiences are fixed and that we still don’t like them. But we never really tried, it’s just an idea we have. If you tried drinking and going out when you were 18 and you didn’t like it, you might like it when you’re 20. You also might like it if you try it in different ways, with different people. We often just stop trying it and think we know ourselves after just one try. The truth is that I didn’t like a lot of things when I tried it the first time. My parents just kept giving me vegetables till I liked them. This is so amazing about us, we can get used to things and then start appreciating them.
There are things that I don’t think I would like but I haven’t really tried them. Sometimes it’s just good and fun to try those things to see how well I know yourself.
A couple of weeks ago I was sitting in the car with my parents and brother. I told them about this idea and my mom had a very nice example. The other day she had attended some kind of wild animal thingy. Kids, teachers and parents could get a snake, spider, scorpion etc. (animals like that) around their necks and on their heads. I told my parents I would never do that, I would rather go budge jumping. But my mom told me that a lot of the people got so excited afterwards. It was thrilling to them. So in a way, they liked it.
Now you’re thinking: ‘okay Olaf, so your mom convinced you to have a snake around your neck, good for you. But what’s your point?’ Well, thank you for asking. My point is that you might like the things that you think you won’t like for reasons you haven’t thought of because you haven’t done it. As long as you haven’t tried something, you can never name the pros and cons of it completely. And that’s why you never really sure if you like something yes or no. So, you’re really not a 100% sure about knowing yourself.
The other way around
So you might be thinking: ‘If I should try the things that I don’t like, should I stop the things that I like?’ Yea I know, that wasn’t what any of you were thinking. But I believe it’s true. Now don’t run away, let me explain.
I tend to go to a Mexican restaurant in the city I live in quite often. It’s called the four roses. It has amazing nachos, called the Grandos Nachos. I think it’s the only thing I ever ate there because it’s so amazing. The thing is, I started asking myself this question:” How do I know that the Grandos Nachos are that good or maybe the restaurant is just that good.” Cause I have never tried anything else. I just can’t imagine anything being so good as the dam nachos, but just because I can’t imagine it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Just because I like something a lot, shouldn’t mean that I should stop there and be like, I’m good. I think I should try everything on the menu because then I know if the nachos are the best. And then I can go to another restaurant and compare their food with my restaurant! (as you might notice, writing this just made me hungry.)
Now you might think: Okay, trying new foods. Good idea, but don’t you always go to the restaurant to enjoy? Because then taking the nachos is fine right? Then you get to enjoy. And this is a very true point, but if you believe that I as a human will keep enjoying the same nachos just as much as the first time, over and over again, your dam wrong. I’m human, so I will get used to it. Even if I ate it only 3 times, it will never be as good as the first. Every time I eat it, it will be a little less good. So that’s why I need to try the others things. If those are worse, I will enjoy the nachos more again!
Taking it a step further
After playing 12 years of basketball I quitted this week. Why? Because I like it. I like it a lot and it’s getting in the way of trying new things. I had one main hobby for the past 12 years and I didn’t try anything else. I mean I had my reasons, I played on a high level so quitting isn’t that easy then. You get so used to practising and playing the sport that it’s like a second nature. The fact is that I’m still used to it now and that’s just wrong. It’s nice to experience new things. If I keep playing basketball for the rest of my life, I will never know if I would like salsa dancing, boxing, drawing, singing or whatever else more then basketball, cause I never tried.
In the end, we just don’t know ourselves and we keep telling that we do. We often like things that we thought we wouldn’t like. And once we stop with the things we like and start doing other things we find out that other things aren’t as bad as we thought they would be. So I will try out new things and I’m sure I will find something that I will like just as much as basketball if I keep trying things.
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