What If You Had Never Tasted Chocolate?

If you are a person who cannot eat chocolate for some reason, or you do not like chocolate, then think of your favorite food. What if you had never tasted it?

How dreary would life be when you need some comfort food, or something to make you feel better, if you did not have your favorite foods, music, books, poetry, or whatever your favorite things happen to be, to brighten your day? What if you had never discovered the things that have become your favorites? What if you had never known about them, or how much you would enjoy them?

Can you imagine your life without your favorite food in it? Can you imagine your life without your favorite activity in it? What would your life be like without your favorite music or books in it? Imagine if you had never even known about all of the things you love, and that you enjoy most.

Why am I beating this subject to death? Why am I asking you to imagine these things? Because if you had not tasted your favorite food the first time you would never have known you love it. If you had not tried your favorite activity that first time, you would never have known how much you enjoy it.

If your mother had not insisted you practice the piano, you might not be the musician you are today. If your mother had not insisted you take music lesson when you would have preferred to be out playing baseball or soccer, music might not be the important part of your life it is today. For some people it may have been drawing or painting lessons that seemed tedious at first, but with diligence over time, became an important part of their lives. It may be sewing or writing. Any number of things could have started out in different people's lives as dull and tedious, but as s/he learned more about them and became more skilled at them, became a favorite hobby or pass time -- or even a vocation!

Most of the things you love and enjoy would not now be a part of your life if you had not tried them that first time. Some things would not be a part of your life and adding to the quality of your life regularly, if you had not stuck with them.

For some of you it may have taken more than just the first taste, or the first attempt at a new interest or activity. It may have taken more than just a single experience for you to realize how much you enjoy that activity or interest. It may have taken time to learn and/or practice for a while before you could truly enjoy it, or it may simply have needed time to ‘grow’ on you.

As time passes and we gain more knowledge through life experience our view of the world changes. Things that seemed so important in our 20s seem silly, or irrelevant in our 30s, or beyond. Things that we hated as children we sometimes come to love, and value, as we get older.

There are some things that we just know without question that we would not like and so it makes sense to avoid them. Activities like jumping off a high building, stepping in front of a speeding train, or setting oneself on fire seem like things one could reasonably expect to be unpleasant.

Likewise French fried tarantulas, fried blood, tuna eyeball, or codfish sperm, may not appeal to your appetite. When we are positively certain beyond any doubt that we would not like something it makes sense to avoid it.

There are a gazillion other things, however, that people can do that may initially seem like they would be too difficult, or even scary. Yet if we try them, we might discover we enjoy them, and that we actually have a talent for them in some cases.

The point is that if we never taste a particular food, we will never know if we like it. If we never try a new activity we may never know if we will be good at it, if we have a natural talent for it, or if we will enjoy it.

One of the reasons universities have a core curriculum is not just because they want their students to have a well rounded education, but because they want students to be exposed to new things to the extent that students will learn if they have an interest or a talent in that discipline.

It is very common for students who declare a particular major when they initially enroll at a university, to change their major to something else about halfway through their academic careers. That usually happens because the students have discovered new fields of interest they did not know they had until they took their first class in that subject. A class the student would never have taken if it were not required by the university in order to get their degree.

Similarly, parents must sometimes play a roll by insisting that a child become familiar with things like playing an instrument or participate in dancing lessons, children’s theater, or a children’s sports program.

If a child continues to seriously hate the chosen activity after several months it might be good to consider a different activity, but giving new things a try can be beneficial no matter how they turn out. Try to find an activity that interests your child to begin with, and keep tabs on whether or not your child is good at whatever it is.

Some things are beneficial even if a child does not stick with them for more than a few months or so. Every experience for all of us is a learning experience.

Stacy Westfall is deaf and mute and has ridden the horse in the above video for only 3 weeks! The song playing as she and her horse perform was dedicated to her father who died just 24 days before this performance.

Stacy has been training this horse for a client for only 3 weeks using a method previously used by North American Indians. She uses no saddle or halter, and since Stacy can neither hear nor speak, uses no voice commands.

Stacy Westfall is an example of what a person can achieve when they put their mind to something with determination and refuse to allow handicaps to stand in their way.

Everyone has handicaps of one sort or another, some more serious than others, some physical, some emotional or intellectual. The question is, what will be done about them? Will they be allowed to block the way? Will they be used as an excuse for not trying? What if Stacy had never attempted to train horses and instead fell back on her handicaps as a reason to not even try?

We can all do more than we think we can, but as Henry Ford said, “If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right.” He meant that your own beliefs, and especially your belief in yourself will determine what you are capable of.

Try new things and give them a real try. Not just a half-hearted try for a few seconds or minutes. When the going gets rough, buckle down and try harder. The people who most often succeed are not geniuses or necessarily people with more advantages than average. They are people who refused to give up, even in the face of strong competition and difficult odds.

So jump into life and try new things. Encourage your children to do the same. Set an adventurous example for your children -- taste new foods and try new activities. You do not have to be a college student or a young person to try something new.

You may find that you hate whatever it is, but you might also discover something new that will add a great deal of pleasure and/or satisfaction to your life. If you never try it you will never know what the outcome would have been. Teach your children that same lesson.

Especially think about those interests you have that you imagine you could never be good at. Give them a try. A real try. Don’t just try it for 5 minutes, but like students at the university, give it a real try putting in your best effort for 15 weeks or so. Learn something new and change your life.

Think about it. What if you had never tasted chocolate?