The Crusts of Life
This morning, as is usual, I was making breakfast for Lina and I.
I have in general adopted my mom's breakfast menu planning....eggs one day, oatmeal the next. I might be more pro-egg than she was as research has determined the eggs are far from the devil (deviled eggs?) and are in fact nutritional powerhouses...so our diet might be 60% eggs and 40% oats.
The oatmeal needs bananas, though, to please my customer! My mom did occasionally substitute Wheatina or Cream of Wheat for the oatmeal to delight our palates (OK, I am being a little snarky). I have followed her procedure on the eggs...scrambled every day, but eat oatmeal every other day like a horse. Making eggs sunny-side up just requires too much energy and execution for me. On the weekends, I might devote myself to cooking eggs that way. Eggs tend to be all weekend (hence the 60/40 split)
Today was an egg day. I and Lina prefer toast with our eggs.
As I fiddled with opening a fresh bag of bread, I encountered the crust. Usually, I avoid eating the crust and instead keep it in the bag while pulling out the non-crust bread slices behind it. This goes on until there are only two pieces left in the bag....the first crust and the last crust. Then, I will chomp them down.
I prefer non-crust bread to eat. So, I avoid eating the crust slices until there is nothing else left. Then, I will typically make a sandwich where I turn the crust sides in (like with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich), so that the bread looks like normal pieces. I know, this makes it seem like I have OCD or autistic characteristics.
I know that the crusts will have to be eaten eventually. So, why do I not just eat the first crust right off the bat and get it out of the way so I don't have to do a work around it for the rest of the loaf of bread? I asked myself this question today. It is a hassle to reach in for a piece of bread if the crust is sitting in there like a rampart from Les Mis.
So, I decided to be proactive and eat the crust rather than keep it in the bag until nothing else bread-wise is left than the back-end crust. I am not pretending that this insight is remarkable, important, and significant. But it is a small thing that illustrates a bigger principle.
We need to be remember that delaying the inevitable rather than just dealing with it often just complicates life unnecessarily. I have seen both in myself and others the propensity to avoid tasks that must be done. Instead, we spend an inordinate time thinking about the tasks and expend energy in our active avoidance. I used to lie in bed and worry about things that I needed to do when I should have been sleeping.
After probably five years of doing this (I am a slow learner), I decided that I would rather get up out of bed and just address what was keeping my awake. I would still be tired the next day yet at least I had eaten the "crusts" of life.
I have probably hundreds of these little principles that I have tucked away in my mind that I have learned over the years. In isolation, one of these "crust-eater" solutions is pretty insignificant, like a snowflake flurry. Add them all together like snowflakes in a storm and the accumulation becomes significant.
I have in general adopted my mom's breakfast menu planning....eggs one day, oatmeal the next. I might be more pro-egg than she was as research has determined the eggs are far from the devil (deviled eggs?) and are in fact nutritional powerhouses...so our diet might be 60% eggs and 40% oats.
The oatmeal needs bananas, though, to please my customer! My mom did occasionally substitute Wheatina or Cream of Wheat for the oatmeal to delight our palates (OK, I am being a little snarky). I have followed her procedure on the eggs...scrambled every day, but eat oatmeal every other day like a horse. Making eggs sunny-side up just requires too much energy and execution for me. On the weekends, I might devote myself to cooking eggs that way. Eggs tend to be all weekend (hence the 60/40 split)
Today was an egg day. I and Lina prefer toast with our eggs.
As I fiddled with opening a fresh bag of bread, I encountered the crust. Usually, I avoid eating the crust and instead keep it in the bag while pulling out the non-crust bread slices behind it. This goes on until there are only two pieces left in the bag....the first crust and the last crust. Then, I will chomp them down.
I prefer non-crust bread to eat. So, I avoid eating the crust slices until there is nothing else left. Then, I will typically make a sandwich where I turn the crust sides in (like with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich), so that the bread looks like normal pieces. I know, this makes it seem like I have OCD or autistic characteristics.
I know that the crusts will have to be eaten eventually. So, why do I not just eat the first crust right off the bat and get it out of the way so I don't have to do a work around it for the rest of the loaf of bread? I asked myself this question today. It is a hassle to reach in for a piece of bread if the crust is sitting in there like a rampart from Les Mis.
So, I decided to be proactive and eat the crust rather than keep it in the bag until nothing else bread-wise is left than the back-end crust. I am not pretending that this insight is remarkable, important, and significant. But it is a small thing that illustrates a bigger principle.
We need to be remember that delaying the inevitable rather than just dealing with it often just complicates life unnecessarily. I have seen both in myself and others the propensity to avoid tasks that must be done. Instead, we spend an inordinate time thinking about the tasks and expend energy in our active avoidance. I used to lie in bed and worry about things that I needed to do when I should have been sleeping.
After probably five years of doing this (I am a slow learner), I decided that I would rather get up out of bed and just address what was keeping my awake. I would still be tired the next day yet at least I had eaten the "crusts" of life.
I have probably hundreds of these little principles that I have tucked away in my mind that I have learned over the years. In isolation, one of these "crust-eater" solutions is pretty insignificant, like a snowflake flurry. Add them all together like snowflakes in a storm and the accumulation becomes significant.
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