Life is like a bowl of oatmeal...

You see, I used to hate oatmeal. I thought it looked nasty, smelled nasty, tasted nasty, and had a nasty texture in my mouth. Granted, my early exposure to oatmeal was the overcooked hot cereal, served with white sugar and milk, which inevitably got cold and gluey and more vomit-inducing, making the transition with every passing second from wallpaper paste until it cooled, congealed and hardened into something you could use to hammer nails into your walls.

More than once, brave souls tried to open me up to all of the wonderful ways in which oatmeal could be served, but after a few mouthfuls, the gag reflex would kick in and years would pass before I tried again. Oh, I love me some oatmeal in baking: oatmeal cookies, oatmeal bread, date squares, or other cereal forms of oatmeal: oatmeal crunch cereal and granola, and...ohhh, I'm hungry again.

But I digress. As I learn about nutrition, healthy eating, weight loss, and weight training, I can no longer escape the benefits of the soluble fiber that is found in hot oatmeal. Darn it. I came to the point where I had no choice but to learn to like it, if I wanted to make progress with my health and whatnot. And thus began the painful first week of learning how to cook it to the consistency and texture that I could manage to choke the mess down. Then I learned to find how on earth I would flavour and disguise that lumpiness so that I could stand the taste. Let me tell you, the initial efforts didn't look much like oatmeal.

But I've begun to get the hang of it, get used to it, and even begin to like it! I eat it every day! I don't even mind eating it cold! I'll eat it with fruit and topped with yogurt, but lately, just a bit of cinnamon and stevia and boom! I'm good to go. It's actually kind of...I admit it, comforting to eat.

I'm noticing in my life, there are things and situations like oatmeal. Not very palatable or pleasurable at first, but necessary, even good for me, and shouldn't be avoided. But with time and acclimatization, I learn to like, even love and crave it. Just goes to show you, you can get used to anything.