How I Learned to Kick My Bad Turtle Soup habit

And how I picked up this cool new watermelon habit

Photo by Tong Nguyen van on Unsplash

I love eating watermelon. It’s one of the few fruits that I let myself get real messy eating.

I remember one time I was in New Orleans and my friends and I wanted to try all sorts of food. Alligator, beignets, po’ boys, dat dog— everything that was available — eventually, turtle soup.

First of all — turtle soup sucks, it was bland and I feel bad that someone killed such a long-living quiet creature to make such a terrible dish. But while I was at that fine restaurant, surrounded by excess and useless luxury, I couldn’t help myself tense up. All the lessons my aunt taught me about etiquette all came into play at the same time and I was annoyed that it was only happening to me.

For me it’s become a sour memory, not just because some of those friends are no longer friends, but because of my own behavior.

I hated that I had to act like that. It was a compulsion. I couldn’t ignore the aura of the room. I couldn’t be myself in that room, I had to become stuffy and all the things I’m not.

Letting go was in that situation both hard and easy. I let go of who I am, but I couldn’t let go of becoming what I didn’t want to be.