The Twinkie Principle
I have never eaten a Twinkie. That's not a metaphor, I really haven't ever eaten a Twinkie, though after reading the rest of what I have to say it might start to sound like one.
When I was a kid my parents wouldn't let me eat Twinkies. Later, when I was old enough to buy my own food, It had stopped occurring to me to want Twinkies because I've always had a huge sweet tooth and had found plenty of other things to satisfy it. More recently it had become a point of pride for me. I'll tell people that I've never eaten a Twinkie and enjoy their shock.
So, recently, I'm starting to think that maybe I really am missing out on an experience that I ought to have had long ago. Kind of like the girl on Private Practice this week who'd never had sex. At first it was forbidden, then ultimately you just figure, I've gone this long without it why ruin my streak. The thing is though, that it's not like I've been waiting to eat a Twinkie, I had fully planned on never eating one until I started to think I might be missing out on something.
Okay, I'm getting a little too much into metaphor territory so let me address the metaphor more directly.
A lot of people make up lists of things they want to do in life (or by a certain age). Things like travel, get a college degree, learn a foreign language, go sky diving, etc. I've never made up a list like that (though certainly if I did it would have included all of the above and more). Lately it almost seems like I do have a list and have been on a crusade to cross as many things off as possible. In the last year I've crossed the first three items on that list off.
It's true that recently I've been pushing my limits but the question here is where do those limits come from? Are there things I haven't done that I'm missing out on simply because it never occurred to me to do them? Or worse things that it has occurred to me that I want to do but have been refraining from out of fear. Have I been sheltering myself? Is one Twinkie going to kill me?
When I was a kid my parents wouldn't let me eat Twinkies. Later, when I was old enough to buy my own food, It had stopped occurring to me to want Twinkies because I've always had a huge sweet tooth and had found plenty of other things to satisfy it. More recently it had become a point of pride for me. I'll tell people that I've never eaten a Twinkie and enjoy their shock.
So, recently, I'm starting to think that maybe I really am missing out on an experience that I ought to have had long ago. Kind of like the girl on Private Practice this week who'd never had sex. At first it was forbidden, then ultimately you just figure, I've gone this long without it why ruin my streak. The thing is though, that it's not like I've been waiting to eat a Twinkie, I had fully planned on never eating one until I started to think I might be missing out on something.
Okay, I'm getting a little too much into metaphor territory so let me address the metaphor more directly.
A lot of people make up lists of things they want to do in life (or by a certain age). Things like travel, get a college degree, learn a foreign language, go sky diving, etc. I've never made up a list like that (though certainly if I did it would have included all of the above and more). Lately it almost seems like I do have a list and have been on a crusade to cross as many things off as possible. In the last year I've crossed the first three items on that list off.
It's true that recently I've been pushing my limits but the question here is where do those limits come from? Are there things I haven't done that I'm missing out on simply because it never occurred to me to do them? Or worse things that it has occurred to me that I want to do but have been refraining from out of fear. Have I been sheltering myself? Is one Twinkie going to kill me?
posted by Beth at
6:01 PM
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