If You’re Feeling Uncertain, Eat Squishy Foods

Life is filled with lots of decision-making moments and opportunities to experience many things. Trying something for the first time can be scary. Making decisions without knowing the facts, though, can rob you of so many wonderful experiences. It’s okay not to like something. But how will you know if you don’t try? Can you believe eating squishy foods changed a young lady’s confidence?

Squishy Foods

She was 17, a delightfully joyous young lady, a friend of the family. As I prepared the evening’s meal it was an honor to set a place for her at the table.

Then the truth came.

As she glimpsed the evening’s culinary creation she hesitantly confessed – in an almost subtle voice of repentance for what I could tell she felt was a disrespectful reply to dinner – “um . . . I don’t like scallops.”

“No problem,” I assured her. “There’s always a refrigerator full. We’ll simply prepare you a different dish.”

Her silent sigh of relief filled the air . . . and amused me.

But I wasn’t letting her off that easy.

Teasingly I inquired . . . “Have you ever had scallops?”

“Ah, no!”

I grinned. She gulped . . . hard.

“Then how do you know you don’t like them?”

“I don’t like squishy foods,” she delivered with lightning speed.

“Oh!” I accepted.

We both turned to go about our business . . . me with dinner preparations . . . she, socializing with my son. Until . . . 

I beckoned her to the kitchen.

Feeling forgiven and off the hook, she returned with the innocence and energy of a budding young adult.

Then stopped short and in horror of the sight before her. There sitting alone on a lunch plate was a scallop. I handed her the plate, a fork, a napkin and these words of wisdom . . . 

“Go into the other room. Try the scallop. If you don’t like it, spit it into the napkin. But when you return you will be able to say with confidence whether or not you like scallops.”

I could hear her sweat.

We both turned to tend to our business.

Shortly she returned. Plate empty. Napkin . . . full. “I don’t like them,” she shivered.

We both laughed.

“Well, at least now you can say ‘I don’t like scallops’ with confidence and experience.”

She giggled in agreement then thoroughly enjoyed dining on . . . her favorite leftover pasta dish.

A Painless and Pleasant Procedure

It was a painless and pleasant procedure.

She was hesitant . . . she experienced . . . and now she knows.

Have you ever been hesitant to try something new? So, what happened?! Share your story and help the tribe discover how experiencing new things can enrich their lives.