Reality Check

It’s official.

These past two weeks have been the hardest two weeks of my life as a registered dietitian.

Two back-to-back six-day work weeks (with this past weekend’s work adventure including me, a full hospital, and a now finished bag of Christmas Hershey kisses), an upcoming 6-month work-a-versary, getting some work done on the bedroom makeover, and having one day off in the middle to try to get blog cooking in.

…

Yeah.

While getting through work unscathed (despite a little exhaustion) and looking forward to the anniversary (who knew half a year could fly) and the room makeover, the results from my day of blog cooking weren’t as positive as one would have thought.

The pancake recipe that usually works EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. fell completely flat.

(the picture is nice though!)

And the experiment for black bean brownies was not as successful as I would have liked.

(but my dad did like them!)

 

Definitely not the best blog cooking day… But, can I make a confession?

It made me so frustrated!

Why was I spending all this time, money, food, resources, energy, mind space on my ONLY DAY OFF between two 6-day, tiring work weeks making food and then standing on my kitchen chair taking pictures of it? My food doesn’t look like the photographs on other blog websites, Pinterest, or in magazines. My food isn’t super creative, super inventive, or uses wild crazy ingredients. Why am I putting all this effort into something that doesn’t seem to measure up?

Well…. After a restorative night’s rest, I woke up and realized something.

I love what I do.

I love this blog.

I love the process of thinking about a new recipe, whipping it up in the kitchen, making a horrendous mess, and standing on a kitchen chair/sofa/step stool/etc. to nab the perfect photo.

I love that THIS IS A PROCESS and that I will get better with each recipe I make and each photo I take.

I love that I am starting to make connections in the crazy food blogging world, gathering people I can share my hopes/fear/dreams/triumphs and ultimately look up to.

And I love that I have moments of self-doubt that allow me to take a step back, get a reality check, and realize that I am doing this for all the reasons I should be… because I love this, love my amazing readers, and love this process.

My reality check was completely and totally validated when I received a very exciting email last night. I was officially endorsed by the Nutrition Blog Network, a website that has a curated collection of blogs written by registered dietitians.

  
It is a honor to have my blog beside many other amazing RDs, including Ellie Krieger!! It was a perfect way to reaffirm how much I love this crazy roller coaster ride of blogging.

 

So have you ever had a reality check moment? Let me know!

oxox,

Catherine