Cooking is the Hobby that makes me happy

I'm copying the next text from my Facebook page, as it's going to be removed soon given new Facebook layouts, and I want to keep it:

Let me start saying I’ve never cooked professionally, but I have the highest admiration for people that wake up every day ready to do their best in a kitchen and bring smiles to their customers. I don’t call myself a chef to demerit them, but as a token of my appreciation, and to set a goal to myself.

Years ago, when I started living out of my parent’s house, my first cooking experiences commenced. Some were good, some terrible, as usual for someone walking any journey. But what I quickly realized was that whenever I was feeling down, depressed, demotivated, I was drawn to the kitchen and new ideas came into my mind for a dish. These sessions would make me feel better but as months and years passed, an strange symbiosis between my negative emotions and cooking grew on.

This odd circle consolidate itself so much, that I would only feel the will to cook when I was at my darkest, when my heart felt broken, or just a generalized loneliness. This became so apparent, that even some friends used to text me whenever I published a new photo of something I cooked, to ask me if I was feeling alright.

With all that negative association on my mind that was putting together something joyful with dark thoughts, I decided a couple years ago to do something about it. I forced myself to cook when I was happy, just for the sake of cooking and nothing else. I started watching cooking shows and YouTube channels, buying this and that new kitchen gadget, shipping foreign ingredients to my apartment, visiting local farmer’s markets. And little by little the shine came back.

At the end, for the most part, we are the ones that decide what makes us happy, what bring us joy. I took the decision to stop using one of my rays of light as a crutch, and instead fed it with passion, to make it shine even brighter, and still now, that’s the plan, that’s my goal.