Move Your Cookbook
The magic of small changes
I bought myself a beautiful new cookbook.
This took me longer than you think. I stood in the aisles of Indigo and searched & searched for a cookbook that could inspire me to cook…to cook anything. I found one, I brought it home…
and on my shelf it sat …waiting.
I’ve since used this cookbook once and loved it. But then, once again, on my shelf it sat.
I realized that the reason I wasn’t using the cookbook was simple. I was confusing cookbook time with grocery shopping time. You see, each time I want to go grocery shopping I pause and think well what will I be buying this time?
Then I think, Hmm I should look at my cookbook for inspiration. But if I sit with my cookbook, I won’t want to go grocery shopping anymore. That ship will sail…fast.
When I want to go grocery shopping, that means I am ready to take myself outside during this crazy time and spend an hour or two finding food. This is not the time to sit down to read a cookbook to find the recipes I will risk trying to make. When I am in the mood to go grocery shopping, I want to go grocery shopping. So, when grocery shopping comes around, with no list or idea in mind, I keep to the aisles I know and love, and come home with the very same array of foods, week after week.
This made me curious, maybe I just need to move my cookbook. Maybe, it’s not the grocery shopping time that has to change. Maybe, I need to take my cookbook off the shelf and put it in the space that makes me inspired. Maybe, cooking doesn’t start in the kitchen. Maybe, just maybe, cooking starts from a place of inspiration and excitement. Grocery shopping and cooking are just the natural next steps.
Now, this is not science nor fact but it damn well makes sense so I’m going to try it!
In the past few months I have been making small changes in my life that have created big ripples of awesome. Like keeping my ukulele out of it’s case so that I can pick it up whenever I like, it worked. I have picked up my ukulele more times this month than I have in years combined.
I decided to move my cookbook into my office, next to my journal. I cannot wait to see what comes of my cooking from such a simple change. Maybe this will inspire me to cook more or maybe this will just inspire me to write about cooking like it did here. Either way, I am giving it a try.
It’s funny to think that such small changes can actually make a big difference in our everyday lives. Making changes for yourself doesn’t have to be hard or a struggle. Sometimes, we just need to make simple adjustments to effect great change.
Where do you keep your cookbooks? When was the last time you opened one, really opened one, planned a meal, and cooked it? Maybe it’s time you moved your cookbooks too.
Move your cookbook, it’s the magic of small changes
