i yam who i yam

Let’s start with a spoiler alert, this is not about those “starchy edible tubers” that are kind of like a sweet potato, but not really. I will be talking about food, but again not the focus. Today is more about me just being me in an unapologetic socio kind of way. And of course, encouraging others to be who they are, cause that’s all you can be, lol. Ok let’s get started.

I’m not a hugger, never have been, never will be. (Surprise, surprise) This doesn’t stop people from trying to hug me or even worse, trying to make me like hugs. I had someone say to me recently that they were going to change that. “We are going to make you like hugs!”  Haha, fat chance! Good luck with that, challenge accepted.

I have another friend who has a husband who spent a lot of time over the years hugging me. In fact, whenever he saw me, he would exclaim, “Oh I know how much you love hugs (sarcasm) so here I am going to give you a great big one!” Every time he saw me, it was the same. Ha, ha. Yuck, yuck. Hug, hug. Groan, groan. Laugh, laugh. Funny, NOT funny. Surprisingly, I don’t hate him. I really like him. I got used to his hugs, and I stopped fighting him about them. That’s when he mostly stopped giving them. (Ha! I won that one!) Now let me be clear here, I never liked the hugs, but because I liked the person, I tolerated the hugs. I think on some level I would have an out-of-body experience. You know in a how your brain protects you from trauma, by having you blackout during it or making you forget it  kind of way. I saw him coming in for the hug, I’d freeze thinking maybe he wouldn’t see me if I didn’t move, hoped that a velociraptor would swoop in and take him away, (that never happened) and then it was over. I don’t even remember anything after that. Thank you, brain!

I accept me for who I am, I’m a little bit like Popeye (look him up if you don’t know who he is, he is inappropriately amazing) who used to say, “I yam what I yam!” I know what I like and what I don’t. A long time ago I decided to wholeheartedly embrace my socio self and just be me. It’s harder than you think, but actually once you decide to do it, quite easy. I do it every day. Try it sometime.

Now, let’s talk about food. A few years ago, with my socio attitude of just being me, I decided I was no longer going to eat stuff that I didn’t like. Seems simple but when you have people telling you how something is sooooo good for you and OMG you need to eat this or that to be healthy, yadda, yadda, yadda. Kale, nope! Kale, you are  bad and will never be on my dinner plate again. I don’t care how healthy it is, how good it is for me, I don’t like it, I’m not eating it! I felt like a little kid on some defiant level, but it was so liberating. Goodbye, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts and beets. Those green smoothies that taste like grass because they are made of grass and that’s why they taste like grass! Face it, you are drinking grass! And not the fun kind that is now legal in a lot of states and of course Amsterdam. Took a while for the US to get on board, but no, let’s not get off topic here.

Let’s pause for a gut check (pun intended) here. I don’t eat candy, cake, cheese, and ice cream for all my meals now. Although that might be fun for a couple of weeks or months, it’s just not sustainable.(And really, really bad for you!) I simply eat what I like, and don’t eat what I don’t like. If you are what you eat, think about this for a moment, I am tuna sushi, Greek yogurt, granola, and pork. (What 4 foods are you?)

But I think my message for today is “be who you want to be.” Be your true self. Don’t be what others want you to be or what you think others will like better. Your peeps, the ones who know the real you will accept you as the real you, (You yar who you yar!) And if they don’t, then they are KALE! Bad, bad kale that will never be on your plate again!

PS-if you are sadistic enough to like kale, feel free to use liver or some other gross food as a substitute. And if you like liver, well, I’m just sorry for your tummy. Do you know what your liver does….oh hell don’t get me started.

PPS-NEVER WILL BE- read the room.