For the first 30 years of my life I thought cheese was orange; Cheez Whiz, cheese curls, mac 'n' cheese, individually wrapped Kraft slices and bricks of Velveeta. Then came my love affair with parmesan; you know, the white cheese that comes out like little balls from a green bottle with a shaker spout, which I now buy as a giant wedge wrapped in butcher paper.
It's finally dawned on me that whether cheese is orange, white or blue, the real reason I eat it is because it's convenient. I open the fridge, I cut it (sometimes) and I eat it. There's no cooking (vegetables) or peeling (fruit) or spreading (peanut butter and Nutella). It's even easier than a square of chocolate that has to be carefully cracked on that little indentation so the other chocolate eaters in the house aren't disgusted by your teeth marks.
After a lifetime of cheese eating, I've finally realized it's a habit of convenience. And fortunately, I've also realized it's a bad one. I accept 50 million extra grams of fat and possible high cholesterol and a heart attack just because I'm too lazy to cut off the tops of strawberries, wash them and put them in the blender (the only way I don't have to gag them down). But as more friends have bad blood tests and my body has more bulges, I'm reconsidering strawberries. And I'm also considering other times taking the easy way out might not be the best choice for me (or you).
Fortunately, I don't succumb to a lot of conveniences. But if you do, here's a friendly reminder of some things that might be missing in your life because their alternatives seem easier:
walking or riding your bike (it beats driving), wearing natural fabrics even if you have to iron them, sending a card instead of a text, going out for a movie instead of watching Netflix, popping popcorn on the stove like your grandma used to, turning real pages in a book, meeting a cute shopkeeper instead of shopping online, the warmth of a wool sweater and not a fleece, sleeping in a sleeping bag in a tent instead of a bed in a camper and lots of other things that you haven't done for years.
There's nothing wrong with convenience if it really makes you happy. But if you squirmished a bit when you read that list, maybe you should consider reliving the old days from time to time.
7-Eleven used to think it was convenient to serve its customers from 7am to 11pm. And then one day they decided offering another 8 hours would make our lives even easier. I think before you take the full plunge into the easy life, you should analyze its gains and losses. And take an extra second to ask yourself if you really even like cheese.
