Recently, I was reminded of a time when I attempted a soup-from-scratch experiment. I was hungry and I mean, how hard can making soup really be?
I’m at home alone, Lanette was on a business trip or something and I was fending for myself. Then the first thought enters my brain, “Hey I’ll make some soup!” Soup is just broth, meat, and veggies—how hard can that be?”
The next thought was, “Hmmm… do we have some broth?” Checking the pantry… Nope. No broth. Rats! What else might work?
Beer. That’s it. I’ve had beer broth soup before (maybe in a bad dream?). I’ll do that!
Undiscouraged and undaunted, I proceed.
One bad move leads to another. As it turns out, the only beer I had in the house was a chocolate stout or maybe it was a porter. I don’t remember. Either way, if beer alone wasn’t a questionable choice, this surely was.
But once I set my mind to doing something, there’s usually no turning back. Stout, porter, or whatever… I was making a beer broth soup.
There was some leftover steak and some veggies in the fridge. I even found one of my favorite soup ingredients in the pantry—barley. Yum!
So Forward Ho, on I went with my soup-making adventure.
Are you feeling a little bit queasy yet? In my defense, it didn’t look half bad. And I was left unsupervised at home alone.
I probably could stop here and let your imagination finish the story. If you’re imagining the most disgusting concoction of witch’s swill ever, you would be about right.
So, what’s the moral of this story?
Ingredients must play well together or you’re going to end up with mayhem soup. Recipes are helpful too. (There’s a metaphor or two in there somewhere).
Since I started out with the lighthearted story about my attempt at soup-making-from-scratch, I probably ought to warn you before I pivot and hit you with something serious. Are you ready? Here goes…
The day you become comfortable with what you know is the day you begin falling behind.”
–a core tenet of LifeUntucked®
And everybody gets comfortable at some point. Usually somewhere during midlife. Could be as early as their mid-thirties or as late as in their sixties.
This is why we need to also get comfortable with rookie status and give ourselves permission to try things on for size. To proceed without a recipe.
I have a question for you…
What’s something you want to give yourself permission to be a rookie at this year?
Ponder this for a moment… Think about it and pick something. I’m guessing you might already know what it is.
Experiment. Try. Make mistakes. Learn. It might not work. Then go back. Don’t ever get complacent… grow and adapt to the changing world.”
–Jessica Wildfire on Medium
I’ve only read one of Jessica’s posts—ever. But I’ve quoted her from that single post multiple times here on LifeUntucked® because WOW! Are those twenty-three words packed full of wisdom or what?
This is simply good advice for anyone because we all get uncomfortable with the idea of trying something new simply for fear of looking bad in front of others who are also paralyzed with the same irrational fear.
So, what did you pick? Let me know!
Gotta go now… time for fixin’ some soup…
Be untucked.
p.s. Know someone who might like this post? Maybe forward it or share it on your favorite social media platform. Thanks…
p.p.s. Here’s a hat-tip to my friend and coach, Mitch Matthews for sharing his soup-making journey in his “4 Things” Weekly Update which is responsible for inspiring this post. You can subscribe and check it out here.
p.p.p.s. This post is 98% algorithm-free (except for the headline and some of Grammarly’s suggestions).
Copyright © 2024 Jeff Meister – All Rights Reserved
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