Grow on you

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WotD: Grow on you

The phrase grow on you is an expression that describes something or someone that becomes more appealing or endearing over time.

When something grows on you, you start to like it more and more as you spend time with it or become more familiar with it.

Our initial reaction might not be overwhelmingly positive when we encounter something new, whether a new food or an acquaintance.

However, as we continue to engage with it, we find it grows on us.

For me, it’s tofu.

I grew up in a homogeneous white Christian society, skeptical of outsiders and foreign food.

Males in my orbit said tofu was ‘gay food’ and that it tasted like cardboard.

After living in Japan for 25 years, I enjoy eating tofu, which doesn’t taste like cardboard at all and didn’t turn me gay.

Imagine that!

We can say that tofu has grown on me.

As another example, when I first moved to Australia on a working holiday visa I worked at a restaurant run by two gay men in Roseville, Sydney.

I felt very uncomfortable around the owners at first.

However, as I worked for them and got to know them better, they helped to open my eyes to accepting the differences of others.

They were friendly, and their positive attitudes started to grow on me.

Before I knew it, they had become two of my favourite employers.

If your feelings become more positive over time, anything or anyone can grow on you.

This is a natural and common occurrence in life, and it often leads to discovering new things that bring us joy and happiness.

So, the next time you encounter something that doesn’t immediately capture your heart, give it a chance—you never know—it might just grow on you.

This post is understandable by someone with at least an 8th-grade education (age 13 – 14).

The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.