You’re dismissed

I like phrases, idioms and cliches, one thing I really enjoy is learning the origin and meaning behind these, but there is one saying I never liked. In fact I heard it for the first time when I was around ten years old and thought it was stupid. The saying; “you can’t have your cake and eat it too”. Being ten years old at the time I thought, well that’s dumb, what else are you supposed to do with your cake if you can’t eat it?

And that was that, I never allowed myself to think on it for a minute longer, it was a stupid saying, it didn’t make sense and I dismissed it. I refused to dwell on it. It was dismissed.

As I got older I heard it being used form time to time and somehow knew that it had something to do with not having it both ways, but how or why I didn’t know as it was stupid and I didn’t care to find out. I wasn’t going to waste any of my precious time thinking about it. One evening (recently) during conversation my boyfriend pointed out the meaning to me, saying that you can’t eat your cake if you have already had it. MIND BLOWN!

 Well duh, you say (insert laugh at my ignorant expense)

Then I began to think of all the things in life I have dismissed.

• Great opportunities I have missed out on, because of preconceived notions
• Friendships not made because of the wrong first impression
• Choices made with only one sided information
• Conclusions jumped to because of assumptions

I have decided that from now on I will…

Not judge a person based on someone else’s opinion of them, I will take the time to get to know them for myself and form my own opinion.

I will embrace more opportunities and scrutinize, before I dismiss something just because the ‘packaging’ doesn’t appeal to me at first.

I will try expand my experiences and be as open minded as I can, before dismissing things as stupid.

No more living in the comfort zone! Life is for living not coasting along.