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Like most people I had desires and aspirations as a child that I no longer have as an adult. I no longer care to eat hard candies or chew bubblegum, I prefer a prime rib steak to a pop tart, and I have no plans to be the first astronaut on Mars. With maturity comes the inevitable putting away of childish things.
Recently, however, I discovered there was one ridiculous, childish desire that deep down I still very much want.
I love Reese's peanut butter cups. When I was 8 or so I imagined that when I was an adult and had money I would buy so many peanut butter cups that you could fill bathtub with them, and eat them all. When I was 11 or so I realized that would be impractical, and imagined instead sitting in an airchair with boxes of Reese's cups stacked high enough to reach them without bending down, and eating as many as physically possible.
Friends, this dream still appeals to me greatly. I didn't realize how appealing it still was until last Christmas, when (after a several months of strict dieting) I allowed myself to cut loose for the holiday. My wife always buys me Reese's to put in my stocking each year, and this year had a big bag of Reese's minis. I ate the entire bag, 1,300 calories worth, within an hour.
And all I could think was that I wanted more.
I'm not planning on making my childhood dream a reality: but this knowledge weighs heavy on me. Each time I'm at Costco I find myself calculating the price of 5 or six cases of cups. Someday, perhaps all too soon, my willpower may fail me.
Which, honestly, wouldn't be so bad. I'd probably get sick, throw up, and if I'm lucky my brain will associate Reese's with nausea and I won't have to worry about this ever again. Worst case scenario, I think the maximum amount of weight you can gain in a day is fixed, (maybe two pounds?) so at least the damage would be limited.
All this preamble to say: do you have any childish dreams that deep down (or maybe not so deep) you'd still like to make a reality?
Sorry if this is not the angle you were going for but: becoming rich My mature self thinks that of course one needs enough money to survive and to help your children thrive. And maybe some for retirement and so on. But I'm naturally very frugal and my wife is even more so, mainly we just don't like most things and the things we like aren't high in demand or do exist in abundance. We both have parents who will help us if we ever need it and our earning potential is probably quite good. But I still have this deep desire to have a high number, like a literal number of money. It is completely unrelated to spending any of it. It is some kind of continuation of the feeling of putting coins into a savings box as a child - somehow comforting - not because you want to buy something but probably more similar to the feeling people who collect something have? I'm not sure.
On a lighter note: I always liked Haribo jelly bears and I indulge into this want every so often till complete satisfaction. Sadly I must report that the association with nausea never lasts more than at maximum a few months so I'm not sure you could permanently cure your desire for Reese's peanut butter cups this way for good. On the upside I'm quite sure that gaining 2 lbs of weight from eating till nauseous once is quite ambitious - especially since if you try this feat in the morning you might not be able to eat anything till the evening. I think one would need to carefully construct ones consumption to actually gain 2 lbs of body fat from a single meal. :)
Every few months I buy a big bag of Haribo Tangfastics. The first five are bliss. After that, not so much. But I still finish them all and I never learn :P
Man, Haribo: those apple rings were my forbidden fruit as a lad, in that my folks wouldn't buy them for me every time I saw them.
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