Food for Thought...

So no more cooking as of yet - unless you count adding water to instant mashed potatoes or heating canned corn on the stove cooking. Which I don't. I feel like if I did that would be cheating.

It has occurred to me that my first post was very correct: cooking is time consuming, and as someone who doesn't have a LOT of spare time, it's just not that easy and/or worth it. But I also feel like people with similar situations can probably relate very well to me. We are of a generation that doesn't value home skills like the generations that came before us. I don't know about everyone else, but I'm starting to think that I'm ok with that. Now, I know this isn't true for some people (I have cousins that show me up on this subject on a regular basis and I love that they can do that because I benefit from the amazingness that comes from their kitchens), but I get by on a daily basis by telling myself that I AM NOT ALONE. Then again, who cares?

I have two jobs. I go to school. I tutor independently when I'm not doing the previous two activities. At the end of a long day cooking is the last thing I want to do. I would much rather pick something up and veg and do homework. I would much rather meet friends for a late dinner as that is generally one of the only times I can see them. I have reverted back to my mother's thinking. Getting things done, relaxing, and human contact is much more important to me, and I can't tell myself that that's not ok.

But another thing I have come to realize is that cooking is really not all that bad. It can actually be fun sometimes, especially with some loud girl music and a spoon (I AM the next American Idol, and my kitchen completely agrees with me). And maybe I can find a way to get my homework done WHILST I cook (or maybe not...). And maybe instead of going out to a restaurant, my friends and I can cook good stuff at home.

I need to look at this as a challenge in life - maybe it's not a real one that life has presented, but it's one that I've presented myself. If that makes any sense. Life is about taking those little, seemingly insignificant, challenges and making something come out of them. It's like I tell students all the time when they're complaining about having to remember the dates of the American Revolution (I'm sorry, but you're an American and you should KNOW the dates of the war that made us): college isn't about having to know every little thing you're taught. No, in the real world an employer at an insurance agency will not care whether or not you know when the Boston Massacre occurred (March 5, 1770) or the quadratic equation (negative b plus and minus the square root of b squared minus 4ac all over 2a!!!). What they care about is if you have the ability to persevere through things you may or may not have enjoyed. That is a student's challenge in life. I've just got to look at cooking as my own challenge in life.

I may or may not succeed. I've had an attitude adjustment about a few things this week, so we'll see how long that lasts. But at the moment, this isn't about cooking. It's about setting a personal goal and meeting said goal, no matter what.

Life finds a way to get in the way. There are some times when I have to fall victim to it. But I'm going to try to do better, and at the end of the day that's all I can do.

Anyways, that was just something to chew on...