Have you ever been at a breakfast buffet at a hotel and everything looks really, really good?
If you’re like me then you’ll probably move around the room, taking little bits of everything and by the end of the meal, you feel pretty sick, because all those little bites added up to a huge breakfast.
Or maybe you’re at the opposite end of the spectrum, so overwhelmed with choice, that you stick to a safe option and just have muesli and a coffee. You walk away with a full belly, but still not satiated because you didn’t try anything new.
Now why on earth am I talking about breakfast buffets?
I’m talking about buffets because I believe life is a bit like a buffet or a banquet. We have so many choices in life that the options are almost limitless. There’s just so much to see and do and consume in the world that life really is like a banquet.
There are stages of life where the choices come relentlessly like the courses in a banquet and other stages where you can look around you like at a buffet and see the endless options you have open to you.
Just like a buffet or banquet, we need to strike a balance between trying to do every possible thing we could be interested in and a repetitive two-course life of nothing but work and home.
So how do we strike a balance at the banquet of life?
TEN-TONNE TESSA
Let’s start with those of us who are greedy to try everything.
If you try to do everything, you’ll metaphorically be a ten-tonne Tessa and you’ll never be satiated. Trust me as someone that was nicknamed worse than ten-tonne Tessa and has literally tried (and eaten) just about everything, that it is not a great road to go down.
In trying so many different things, you likely won’t ever see anything through or give anything enough time to become great at it. You may also have a bit of a ‘shiny mirror ball’ syndrome, where you are so distracted by the next thing, or so busy being on the look out for something new, that you’ll never give anything the time it needs for you to fall in love with it.
In truth, we want to try new things. As they say, variety is the spice of life. Once again this is a balance though. You want to give something enough time to be able to say you gave it a proper go and to ensure you overcame any initial challenges.
New things should be hard and controlled adversity makes us stronger. Every time you try something new that’s a bit hard that you manage to conquer, it builds up your confidence muscle.
If you try something and hate it then you spit it out. As long as you’ve had enough of a taste to truly know that you’re not just making excuses because it’s a bit harder than you expected. If you have, then you let it go and move on to the next thing.
Because after all, life is too short to keep doing things you hate.
TWO COURSE LIFE
What happens more commonly in life is that we forget to try new things and find ourselves living the two-course life of work and home.
Your soul will become depleted pretty quickly with this kind of life. Maybe you’re paralysed by choice and don’t know where to start, so you stick to what’s safe. Maybe you’ve gotten out of the habit of trying new things.
Maybe you tried new things and just became too satiated. You became full, or comfortable and you switched off, signed out, or had the post lunch lull that went on a bit too long.
Whatever the reason, now is the time to taste something new. To get out, look around and decide what you’ll try next at your life banquet or buffet.
If there’s something that ever piqued your interest, even just a little bit, give it a go. Have a look online for a language class; ask a friend if they want to go with you to a dance workshop; order the materials to stay clay-making or just start running if that’s what you want.
As long as it’s easy to add to your menu, then there’s no reason not to go for it.
If you want to start something really huge and different, it may require planning and time, but even this will be adding something new to your life. Or you can start smaller and just take a little step, have a little nibble on something new to see how you like it, without upsetting the balance you have.
It’s a fine line of experimentation.
IT’S ALL A BALANCE
It really is just all a balance. We all at once want to try new things, give them enough of a go to know if we like or dislike them and avoid becoming satiated or bored.
Regardless of where you’re at, trying new tastes at the banquet of life will add to your experience, build your confidence muscle and hopefully, gain you new passions that will leave you happier and satiated, but always with room for more.