Hard Nuts

Someone said to me the other day that I was a hard nut to crack... This took me quite by surprise... I'd always thought I was fairly easy to crack. I'd never thought of myself as being a particularly hard nut like a walnut or chestnut... I thought I was probably a bit softer... Not as soft as those asian peanuts, or cashews... Mebbe more of a Macadamia or better still a Salted Pistachio...

hmm.. yeah.. salted pistachio... cos you know.. sometimes they're really easy to open, other times you get those hardly opened ones, that just refuse to budge and crack open.. then sometimes just get those that aren't even opened at all!!! But 8/10 you get a decent easy to open pistachio that takes so good, and is so addictive... AND finger licking good... the ones that u just can't help yourself from eating and eating and eating... then need to wash down with several glasses of water or lemonade... :)

But i digress... :P This comment got me thinking... Why are some nuts (meaning people) harder to crack than others?

Is it a matter of strength? or technique? like pistachios or chestnuts? u need to know where the hinge is and apply the pressure in the right place... pistachios are fairly easy cos u just squeeze the part that is still hinged and it opens a bit more, allowing you to rip one lid open... chestnuts are much harder... u need special equipment here... and need have enough strength to apply pressure on the weak point...

but again I digress... why are some nuts harder to crack? what do u need to do crack some of them?

we all set up natural defense mechanisms against things we don't like or feel comfortable with... but when it comes to people and relationships with them, we put up walls and masks to prevent people getting too close to us... to stop them getting to know the real me... why? to protect ourselves? maybe... or is it more out of selfishness? that we don't want to share our whole lives with them? I'm not talking about husband and wife kind of sharing whole lives thing.. but just normal everyday to day sharing our lives with each other...

thinking about what that person said about me being a hard nut... i guess in some ways I am a bit of a hard nut to crack, in that often I'll only open myself up to those I can relate to, have common interests with and the like.. people i'd want to share my life with... In a way I know that this is a selfish and snobbish attitude and so i'm not making any excuses...

I've also had the shoe on the other foot however... and know what its like to work away at cracking a nut, only to find it to be stubborn and steadfast in refusing to open... you pour all your energies into trying to get someone to share their life you, to try and get to know them but yet they refuse to budge... it can be most infuriating and frustrating...

some people are more like clams and oysters than they are nuts... sometimes, you just have to wait and be patient and let them open up at their own accord letting them reveal and share the pearls hidden inside... any little suprise will spook them and they'll just clam right up again...

but even so, having said all that... we all posses a bit of nuttiness in us as well as clamminess... mebbe we should try and be more like clams and oysters than nuts... and be more willing to share the pearls of our lives with each other... rather than be all hard and walled up within our protective shells... or at least be a bit more soft shelled and willing to let others into our lives and share our lives with them...

Mmmmm... Pistachios... :P