Solace in the Old. Distress of the New.

Familiarity is said to breed contempt.

To be honest, I always wondered what the person who created this supposedly enlightening quote, ACTUALLY meant by this. Even though noted scholars (self-proclaimed ones, I’m sure), defined this idiom as the more you know something or someone, the more you start to find faults and dislike things about it or them.

But what if the person who coined this confusion in my head, actually meant it to be really just plain and simple? Not liking anything that is Old at all. For example – Bread. No one that I know likes old, mouldy bread. Unless it’s converted to French Toast (the actual reason behind the existence of French Toast, by the way) Do you?

Again to be honest. I actually prefer the former meaning.

There will never be anything contemptuous about the smell of old books, the warmth of a familiar embrace, the comfort of the old blanket, the glee of meeting a long lost friend, the use of an ink pen, the clickety clack of a typewriter, the smell of your mother’s cooking, or even just feeling and knowing the oldest form of love you, as an individual, would have ever known - that of a parent’s.

The New, on the other hand, causes my skin to crawl. Like the onset of an allergic reaction. Meeting someone I haven’t met before causes me so much of distress, I’d rather run a mile away (I am THE laziest person I know) than face him/her. There exists so much of unwanted stress. The obligation of making small talk. The struggle to find something to say. Uncomfortable silences. Attempting to keep in touch. Discovering at a later date all those faults in him/her. And in the end ALL that effort went to waste. The same goes for someTHING New as well. Like a fashion trend. Or a new pair of shoes. (They should have Statutory Warnings on them - Beware! They BITE!!)

The New just makes me want to hibernate in the Old.

Which makes me wonder.

What was I like when the Old was New at some point? Tolerant, perhaps?