The Sweet Taste of Changing your Mind

(In my Sophia from the Golden Girls voice) Picture it, Morristown TN, 111 Elm Street, 1977. It was in the middle of my 3rd birthday party and I had just finished eating a slice of my Cookie Monster cake (my favorite). I then proceeded to eat all of the "fancy appetizers" my mother had on the table. What were the appetizers?

Wedding mints, like the mints pictured above. You know the ones. You see them at baby showers and in bowls at restaurants. Their beautiful pastel colors melt in your mouth when you eat them.

Delicious, right?

Right...

unless you eat a whole bag of them.

Then they're not so delicious.

After that day, I didn't eat another wedding mint. Even when it was time to buy candy for my actual wedding 20 years ago, I didn't buy wedding mints. Just seeing them made my stomach hurt.

The "Pandemix". How cute is this?

Fast forward to Monday of this week. I receive a text message from my best friend that says she and her 4 year old son dropped a gift in my mailbox. (This is one of the perks of the pandemic: gifts on my doorstep at least a few days a week!) I opened the mailbox to find a ziplock bag of trail mix- pretzels, chocolate chips, homemade granola and what I thought were mini-marshmallows.

I brought it up to my home office and left it there until yesterday. Before one of my calls began, I wanted a snack, so I began to eat the trail mix. It was yummy!

But suddenly I tasted a familiar taste: the wedding mints!

And guess what? I didn't cringe. I didn't gag. In fact, I enjoyed them!

What is the lesson here?

After having ONE bad encounter 43 years ago, I had sworn off those mints forever. Even when presented with them time and time again at various showers, restaurants, etc., I would always shake my head and decline.

But when I didn't know the mints were in the bag and ate them blindly, I enjoyed them!

We can use this same thought process as we begin to plan for the coming months.

What are some things that you have "sworn off forever" that you may want to revisit?

Maybe you started working right out of high school and never had a chance to go to college. Think about taking just ONE course to give yourself a chance to experience a college-level course. You will be shocked to see how WELL you will do! Here's a tip: Bay Path University is offering a FREE course that starts in June and August. Learn more here.

Or maybe you're someone who has never liked going to the gym In my case, the thought of going to the gym made me want to scratch my own eyes out! For years I didn't exercise at all because I "I didn't like the gym."

The couple I married at the top of a mountain in Greenfield. Look at the view!

But one day I was "surprised" with a walk that was much longer than I thought it was going to be and I felt so energized I make sure to make the effort to move my body in a healthy way every single day. It may be a walk with my dog or one of the free dance classes offered online, but I make sure to build it into my day because of how good it makes me feel.

I no longer say "I hate exercise!"- at least out loud. :).

Instead I say "I get to take a walk on my lunch break."

We will never have the time or space to plan in the way we have right now. I know you are all busy working outside the home, at home, teaching your children, etc. You may think you don't have time to plan for the coming months.

But the reality is, you don't have time NOT to make a plan of action. Get to it!

The future you is waiting!

Crystal Senter-Brown has written 7 books and works as the Director of Employer Relations and as an Adjunct instructor in the Women as Empowered Learners and Leaders program at Bay Path University. She has been featured in O Magazine, Redbook and Essence. She lives in Western Mass with her BBQ pit-master husband and a toothpick-stealing dog named Venus.