Leftovers

Yesterday a friend and I went to a Chinese food court for a quick lunch.  I ordered a safe dish: Chicken pad thai noodles; one of my personal favourites if I'm not in the mood to make bold food decisions. 

So here I go, getting my portion of noodles fit for an army.  Well, a small army.  And probably just enough for a regular person, but for me it was 4 times what I really needed.  A lesson my mother taught me was to never put food on your plate that you are not willing to eat.  That sounds obvious, but when you get your food in a restaurant or take out, you pretty much stuck with someone elses interpreation of a portion size.

The dish was vinegary but still edible, and if I had to rate it out of 10 (10 being the best I ever had), it probably scored about a 6.  And yet after eating less than half, I felt compelled to take a doggy bag of all the left overs.

Why would I do that? Holding on to an experience that wasn't that great in the first place, and yet finding a way to repeat it.  Why is it so hard to just push the plate aside and reject the rest of the food, a plate that someone else dished for me?

How much left overs are you carrying with you of an experience that wasn't that great,and you have no intension to go back for more, yet you carry the left over bag with you for what ever reason, holding on to that feeling of not being satisfied?

In the end the doggy bag ended in the garbage anyway, where it belonged in the first place.  So next time you have an experience that is not that great, remember to leave the rest of it where you found it.  There is no need to carry leftovers from the past into your present. 

Each experience is to be enjoyed, and some emotions are going to feel good, and some are going to feel bad.  And when it is over, it is over. Don't pack the leftovers.