Part Two – Snobbery

Yesterdays post, where I described how I used my stubbornness to quit smoking, was easier to write than I think this one will be. It is easier to suggest that stubbornness can be a strength than to show how snobbery can be too. So please forgive any rambling that occurs during this – I am figuring it out as I go (which was the whole point of the blog really).

My snobbery – and I am entirely comfortable with calling myself a snob, though I know others wouldn’t be – started many years ago when I basically had nothing. No money, no designer stuff, no shiny pretty things to show off with. Back then my snobbery came out in the smallest of ways. I insisted on only buying my favourite brands of just three things, there were no own brand coffee, toilet rolls or cigarettes in my home. I wanted the ones I wanted and nothing else would do. (In actual fact my prefered brands were not that much different or better, but it felt like I was making an effort towards treating myself, even if the difference was just pennies).

Now, when I can afford just about everything I could possibly want, the tables have turned. I don’t want those things anymore. Now I want savings, so own brands are fine by me. Now I don’t need shiny pretty things because I have no need to show off and now most designer stuff is unappealing in the extreme as they are made using child labour, they are terrible for the environment or they are sold by companies who avoid paying their taxes.

So now I am trying to use my snobbery in the same way I use my stubbornness – focussed in the right direction…I’m not buying your stuff, no matter how expensive it is…I want better, for me and from you.

I have a diobolically bad relationship with food, sugary foods in particular, but one of the only things that keeps me in balance is refusing to eat anything I deem ‘unworthy’ of my tastes. I would rather walk across hot coals than eat cheap chocolate. In my mind I have dismissed most chocolates, all biscuits, most cakes and all sweets as cheap, nasty and must be avoided.

Having said that, food is not something that can be completely ignored, it is not the same as cigarettes, and good health should be the goal of wholesome eating as well as quitting smoking. And – according to the snob in me – artful, expertly made, over 60% dark chocolates are a thing of beauty. Fortunately I have someone who knows me and my foibles well and is willing to indulge my nature.

I eat chocolate infrequently, but when I do it’s the good stuff.

These are, believe it or not, chocolates from Fortnam and Mason’s. They are so lovely looking that I found it difficult to contemplate actually opening and eating them (that reluctance didn’t last too long though). The 100% one will be shaved into warm milk for hot chocolate but the rest will be lovingly enjoyed over many an evening, because what’s the point of having the best stuff – that the snob in me adores – only to use it up so quickly you end up making yourself sick?

I think my point is that you can use snobbery just as effectively as stubbornness to get what you want. Perhaps I haven’t explained that as clearly as another person would, but maybe it will help someone else see that even traits that are described as negative can have silver linings.

I also managed to show off my Christmas chocolates so that’s a win.