Praising Myself

Often, we shy away from praise. More often, we stop ourselves from praising ourselves. Nobody likes interviews, writing a cover letter is hard, and society states we must be modest when receiving a compliment. Grateful. Always say thank you, never fully agree with the complimenter. Those are the rules.

It's come to my attention that I never speak to people about what I am good at. 

Last year, I started an initiative called Elf Anonymous. It was a simple idea: visit with seniors who don't see family over the holidays, and provide them with a gift. I advertised, mostly through Kijiji to see if any strangers would want to join me. An overwhelming 35 people responded, and I went in search of senior homes to partner with. Tonight, I was lucky to round up 15 volunteers, to make a difference in 15 seniors' lives.

However, I never have praised myself for my "saintly contributions" as my husband would call them. In fact, yesterday, my father called me, and I mentioned "I'm working with seniors tomorrow - I volunteer with them every Christmas". But Dad, you don't know that I made that happen. I created that opportunity to volunteer.

Tonight, I'm praising myself. 

I'm congratulating myself for bringing together a group of people, for managing chaos when the staff at the senior's lodge were uninformed about the event, and for making 15 seniors happy. 

I may not do everything perfectly. Writing this tonight reminds me that I need to spend more time on the phone with my own grandmother, who inspired Elf Anonymous. However, I think too often, we forget to praise ourselves. Perhaps it's time to start.

  

My Recent Fascination with Blind Cooking

I go in cycles when it comes to my eating habits. For a while, I'll keep up with the cooking, and be really excited about something I've taken to - like baking a lot of cakes, or playing with protein intake. After a while, though, I start to become bored with my cooking habits. Cooking has only been fun from a creative perspective to me. Recently, I've found a way to become creative with cooking that seems sustainable:

Blind Cooking

I've started to use Sustainable Produce Urban Delivery

(SPUD) after about a year since the last time I made an order through this local company. This time, I've changed my methods, and decided to sign up for the "surprise box", as I call it. I order a "salad kit" or the "vegan assortment" in which SPUD decides what you get, by packing a box full of whatever surplus veggies they have at

the time. I go into my cooking blind, unsure of what ingredients I'll have in stock each week. It forces me to be creative, to search for new recipes, and best of all, it makes me actually eat a copious amount of vegetables and fruits. I can't waste the ingredients (shopping local and organically is slightly more expensive, but I feel infinitely better about my meal choices). I have to look at what's in my fridge and figure out the best way to use up the veggies that aren't going to last as long. I'm especially happy that it makes me eat things I normally don't even look at in the grocery store (parsnips?!) because I have no idea how to incorporate them into my diet.

Tip of the Day: add some more creativity into your kitchen, and you'll want to spend more time there.