How to love something you hate

When I was twenty I still didn't like raw tomato. I had grown to really dislike the taste of raw tomatoes.

Then I thought to myself that it was silly because I like tomato in pretty much any other form, that be tomato soup, ketchup, spaghetti with tomato sauce and I can go on forever. So why not raw tomato? It's even more absurd when tomato is, along with onion and potato, the most common vegetable to encounter in any meal. In short, any day of the week I'm likely to eat tomato.

After that realisation I began to eat a bit of raw tomato at each dinner, until I enjoyed raw tomato.

At first it was pretty nasty, yuck. I just ate a very small amount, and have to throw the rest away. Then it was kinda alright, but not really that good. And finally I began to love it. Today, there is not much that gets as good as a fresh tomato salad with salt, pepper, olive oil and diced onion. It is heaven. I love having a simple slice of fresh tomato as well.

I believe that teaching yourself to love something you hate (or you have some resistance to) is a great and important experience. I have done this with different food products, but also with more abstract ideas such as political viewpoints, preferences for clothing, and social interactions. You don't necessarily need to agree with the new perception, but you should definitely be able to enjoy the positive values instead of rejecting the idea right off the bat.

It always sucks when your mind has to change. Evolutionary we seem to fear change by default, but little by little your mind can be taught to love a new perception. You just have to keep on the pressure, until your mind finally give up resisting, and instead enjoy the actual values in the new perception.

Beware though, this is also true for things that is against your moral. You can teach yourself to accept horrible things. You have to be aware of these changes in yourself. Be careful that you do not lower your moral compass when it comes to understanding, and compassion.

To get you started, go identify one food item you don't like the flavour of, and then each day just try eat a little bit. Make sure that you get a good taste of it, but you don't need to eat it all. Remember little by little. Keep doing this every day for 90 days straight. (Just know that certain food items might actually taste bad to you no matter what because of genetic predisposition, but don't let that stop you from experimenting.)

Try it, you will thank yourself for doing it.

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