I’m not much of a baker. Actually...I’m not a baker at all. Actually...I lied. I am a PRO at whipping up some nice Red Lobster biscuits with garlic and herb sauce after a night out. Yes they’re from a box but hey, that doesn’t mean that mixing some stuff in a bowl and microwaving a stick of butter can’t be done with lots of love.
When baking anything other than Red Lobster biscuits, I need someone next to me walking me through every step. I overanalyze cookies and cakes that bad. My brain doesn’t like following instructions no matter how straightforward. After so many unsuccessful baking ventures, I cannot/will not bake without constant reassurance that “Yes, you can start mixing now,” then “Okay, that’s enough of that...” Without assistance, I will leave everything on the counter and walk away. No cookies. No cakes.
Recently, I started to overanalyze my life like I overanalyze baking. I had my “recipe of life” precisely planned out like I was about to stick a cake in the oven. The oven was preheated (my momentum toward the future was crusin’), I had all my ingredients ready to roll (I had most of my sh!t together), and all I had to do was mix them up and let them bake. But like I said before, I am NOT a good baker. All of a sudden the ingredients in front of me changed. I freaked out.
In the midst of all this, my professor invited me to a research discussion with a writing professor candidate. The work presented was EXACTLY what I want to do with my life, so I stayed after and chatted with the candidate about the steps she took to evolve her career. She told me “there’s no recipe.”
BOOM. There it is. Fate. I didn’t tell her I was writing an article about a recipe for life, she said these words just because. Yes, this conversation was awesome because I was offered suggestions on how to start my career. But I took away something much more important.
You can’t just hope that life will advance itself according to the intricate, precise plan you’ve projected. Passions change, goals change, people come and go, and you’ll be thrown for a loop if/when change happens...especially if you’ve only looked toward a singular goal with tunnel vision. It’s okay to be unsure about the next steps because what matters is a personal understanding and acceptance that you are where you’re meant to be in the present moment. You just have to play the mind-game to reach that understanding and acceptance first.
It’s ALWAYS possible to make something tasty out of whatever ingredients are in front of you. Those fancy people on Food Network make delicious cupcakes or whatever out of weird food all the time. It may take some work and you may need sous chefs, but you can always make something good out of the ingredients that life gives or takes.
There is no recipe to life, why try to follow one?
