Blog Post #26: Clam Up

I finally found out where the phrase “clam up” comes from. I started a new job in the seafood department of a grocery store this week. My list of tasks was reaching into the lobster tank to grab, wrapping portions of fish, and setting up the display every morning. But I think the most memorable task was learning how to sort the living clams from the dead ones. You see, if a clam is slightly open, “give it a few good squeezes, and if it stays closed, it’s alive” (according to my manager, Ben). If the clam senses any sort of danger, such as a human being in a white coat “giving it a good squeeze” it will close up and stay closed until danger has passed. The clam is protecting itself from harm. Well, I think as a human being, I tend to clam up sometimes too. Whenever I get stressed or anxious, I freeze and feel totally paralyzed. I might even stop talking completely if I’m talking to someone. I don’t have a shell, but I have a psychological shell that I can close when I feel danger is near. I think “clamming up” sometimes is totally natural; it’s a survival strategy. However, as Google helpfully told me, clams cannot stay closed all the time. They have to open to feed and breathe. I think it’s the same for humans. We may clam up, but we can’t stay closed forever. To survive requires risks and some compromise. Like clams, we too need to open ourselves to the big scary world in order to survive. The term “clammy hands” though? Don’t ask me where that one comes from.