A big spoon is my default utensil for consuming my at-home meals. I’m not against forks; I've simply found a spoon to be more versatile than a fork for ever-changing plates of food. So, I use spoons almost all the time. If I have a meal of fork-necessary food though, such as spaghetti, I’ll quickly and easily grab for the fork. But most of time, my default setting of the spoon is good enough.

I had a conundrum-producing meal one day, though: There was rice — spoon food — and green beans, which I best handle with a fork. For one of the only times ever, it looked like I would need both utensils for this meal.

Here’s the crazy part of the story: While I already had the spoon, I hesitated to grab the fork.

I’ve had the same issue when it comes to using a small plate (instead of merely a paper towel) for holding my fruit or other snack food. It’s a deep-rooted scarcity mindset that I learned as a kid from my parents, who I’m 99% sure didn’t even know they were teaching it.

Anna has pointed out to me how I’ve tried to conserve — plates, forks, even paper towels — as if there aren’t more of them to be purchased, had, or washed and used again.

This conditioning requires conscious uprooting to be undone