Firsts

​​First dates are exhilarating and refreshing. It’s like facing a blank white canvas and envisioning what you could do with the palette available. There’s always the tendency of over-ordering and under-eating. There is just too much to be said, quite a few glasses to be cheers-ed to and sometimes too many butterflies to be tamed. Everything else stays in the background as a theatrical set up that’s not necessarily needed, but does make up the scene. Some people are in love with first dates-the serial first daters. They are familiar with the sweet taste of the novelty, the tingling excitement of the unknown and the attractive questionmark of the ‘what could it be.’

I guess that’s true for all the firsts well beyond the first dates. Do you remember the last time you saw a new place for the first time? Your astonishment, the expansion of your pupils, the taking in of the colors and silhouettes. It’s a mini high. Sometimes a big one. Trying an unfamiliar dish for the first time and just melting away at the sensation of that first bite. Slowing down, tasting all the nuances and richness and elongating the pleasure. The bites afterwards could be delicious too, but really cannot compare to that very first one.

It’s a privilege and a curse to fall into the trap of the firsts. Now that you are familiar with the bar of excitement, there is a big danger that anything below it would seem prosaic and washed off. As a favorite t-shirt that stayed under the sun for way too long and had its colors faded. You still like it, you’d probably wear it again, but not with the same excitement you felt when you first put it on. Back when it was all new, untouched and ready for you to put your mark of history on it.

I guess that’s also the curse of contemporary life. Everything is a touchscreen away with the promise of instant gratification. Once you do get it, its appeal goes gray. I do wonder though, isn’t the opposite the better recipe for a happy and content life? Mastering the art of enjoying something once again as if it was the first time. Ordering that bolognese for the 50-ed time and appreciating it as if you’ve never tasted it before. Going to your favorite cliff jumping spot and feeling as excited at the prospect of going into the turquoise waters as ever. Having that morning cup of coffee that notes the beginning of your day and truly enjoying it, once again.

Maybe that’s a never ending chase. Being torn between the excitement of the novelty and the stability and rhythm of the daily and sustainable. A constant dance, a push and pull, a challenge in motion. Maybe life serves you the right dosage of new and known with the right timing. The universe has its funny ways of provoking you and taking care of you at the same time. I’m ever curious though, how do you dance between the two?