I hear that. If I’m watching something unknown, I get so anxious about the possibility of something gross that it will ruin the experience. Calling it a phobia may not be psychologically valid, but it really is a fear that changes my life.
So, let me get this straight - in the OP, **diggerwam **is advocating for variety, OK, got it.
But when **diggerwam **encounters someone who is not like **diggerwam **in a particular way (which would be the definition of variety, nes pa?) then that someone should be more like diggerwam?
Color me confused…
I’m beginning to think we need a separate forum titled “Why are people different?” for threads like this.
I am extremely risk averse. I do try to experience new things, but sometimes the anxiety it will cause is not worth the hassle. I remember seeing a story about an experiment with mice that found a genetic component to risk taking. Mice with the risk taking gene behaved recklessly, while mice without the gene were very cautious. I’m convinced that there’s something genetic in me that makes me dislike risk so intensely.
A long time ago I did come up with a theory about watching movies multiple times:
First viewing: Mainly about grasping the plot
Second viewing: Gaining a deeper understanding of the characters and their motivations
Third viewing: Becoming aware of the cinematography, art design, and look of the film
Fourth viewing: Becoming aware of the sound, sound effects and score
Subsequent viewings: Deepening understanding of all of the components and how they fit together
IMHO, a 90%-10% approach to life is ideal. 90% tried, true, familiar, and 10% new and unfamiliar.
Just missed the edit window.
I found the study I remembered – I watched video of the mice choosing protected or unprotected paths.
I used to be with it.
Then they changed what it was.
Now, it just seems weird and scary.
diggerwam, are you familiar with the concept of “comfort food”?
Aka, “Explain why hyoomans…etc?” 
If you have a potentially deadly food allergy, grilling the server about what’s in a dish might not be enough. There are plenty of stories of someone being told a dish doesn’t have a particular ingredient, only to come out with that ingredient on top. Sometimes this is due to malice or wanting to “prove” that the food allergy is fake, sometimes it’s just standard human cluelessness. If it’s not obvious that the thing you’re allergic to is in it, that could lead to a very dangerous situation for people with severe food allergies.
Even some people who don’t have deadly food allergies have food allergies or intolerances that can make life fairly unpleasant. Ask one of the approximately 65% of people worldwide who are lactose intolerant what happens after they consume lactose, but only if you don’t mind hearing sordid details about pooping and farting. Ask someone with severe acid reflux what happens after they consume one of their trigger foods. Ask someone with celiac disease what happens after they have gluten (this is also likely to have gross poop-related details).
My friend is vegan and we were asking the waitress about the tomato basil soup – “Is it creamy?” “Oh, yes, it’s creamy!” We were a little :dubious: since it’s usually not a cream-based soup, but my friend skipped it. Of course it wasn’t literally creamy – we figure she was just trying to tell us it was thick and not watery!
Forget Taco Tuesday. If I eat tacos even once, I find them repeating.
And it will happen to you!
I haven’t had tacos in ages. Now it’s 2am, and I’m jonesing for them.
Because I tried experimenting and taking risks, and I did not like it. I don’t care if my life is boring compared to yours, it’s my life and I’ll do what I want.
Ever been to Brew Gentlemen microbrewery in Braddock? They have food trucks that park outside. The taco truck makes some excellent food, including tacos.
The brewery itself is an interesting story, started up via a Kickstarter and producing some awesome beers.
I know I don’t like white ale, and I know I don’t like chicken gizzards, so I can reasonably extrapolate that I probably won’t care for goose gizzards, either. So why should I try a dish that I probably won’t like? Yes, there’s a slim chance that I could like it, but there’s probably something else on the menu that’s a better fit for my likes that is still new to me, so I’ll try that instead. Hubs introduced me to Thai food that way. “You like this and this and this, so you should try this dish.” Boom. I was off and exploring Thai food.
My kids get the same lunch for school every day. They have about 20 minutes to eat, so they don’t have time to figure out what’s there. They want to know what is in their lunch boxes before they open them. So, that’s what we do. When they want changes, they ask, and we do so, but generally, they eat the same thing every day for lunch. No one questions them about their lunches at school. It’s odd to think that as adults, they might have to defend their lunch choices, though I won’t be involved with those choices at that point in their lives.
Saturday night is family movie night for us. We stay in and choose a movie from our movie library. Sometimes it’s a new movie, but I don’t have a new movie to offer the kids most weekends, so they will choose something they’ve seen before. For us, though, it’s less about the movie and more about the time we spend together. But that in itself is a comfortable same routine, too.
Variety is the spice of life. I agree to that. But, how much spice one desires varies from person to person and from time to time in a person’s life. And no one else can say that my choices are wrong for me because my choices don’t align with your choices.
Well, you can say it, but that doesn’t make it true. 
no more insecure than people who want to micromanage other people’s lives.
I understand people are different and I have no place to judge what people do.
But that craving for familiarity is genuinely foreign to me. I don’t feel it, and it is hard for me to understand it because I don’t have an internal reference point for it.
The 16,961 times you’ve come back and posted here don’t bear that statement out.
So when you come back from your world travels, you don’t ever feel a sense of relief and comfort to know you can sleep in your own bed and not have to think about where you’re going, what you’re going to eat, what language you need to speak, what cultural norms you need to follow and be wary of, and what the currency exchange rate is?
I can’t go on automatic when I’m in a new place, doing new things. So as much as do like traveling, it is a tiring experience for me. After about a week, I’m exhausted and start wishing I could go back home so that my little brain can take a break. I like thinking, mind you. But I also like not-thinking.
I think that’s what familiarity does. If your life is stressful or full of lots of decision-making (or you just get anxious easily), it just makes sense to have some things set on “automatic” so that you can expend your energy more efficiently. Now that you have a kid, I’m betting you experience the benefits of routine.
When I come back, it feels like returning to a video game on “easy” mode. I miss having the challenges and little milestones (“Woohoo, I figured out how to buy a train ticket!”) that come with being out of my element. Heck, I’ve stopped traveling with guidebooks because they take the element of surprise out of things. My version of travel planning when solo is to buy a plane ticket and make a reservation for my first night.
Having a kid has made staying in one place a little less dull, as it has its own ever-changing challenges, but I’m definitely eager to get moving sooner than later.
I’m not at all in the normal spectrum on this, and I’m not sure it’s a great thing. But I’m generally the type of person who, if there is something on the menu I’ve never heard of, will order that. I have few strong likes or dislikes. I generally enjoy most things.