I’ve finally succumbed – I’m nursing a bad cold and a nasty cough and the topic I’ve chosen for today’s post is weirdly apt. It’s made me question what I am able to put into my work today. Inside me feels quite hollow and I am slightly surprised to find that I have nothing to offer the world today. Not even the big smile that I usually greet people, even complete strangers with.
What do you do when you’re faced with a day like this? Of course, in foodservice you are discouraged from showing up to cook with a contagious ailment, but there are times in any job when you just don’t feel inspired. I think working in a kitchen makes it easier, because you’re swept away with the busyness and you eventually find your rhythm. But I believe it’s super important to acknowledge what your body feels. That self-awareness has the power to shift anything. I took a break for a few minutes to just feel into that hollow sensation. Not judging what came up. Just observing it, sitting with it. Suddenly, I was reminded of the service I had decided to dedicate my time to. I won’t say the answer made sense or that it made me feel any better because I wanted to be stoic and ignore the emptiness.
What happened was that I just accepted that sometimes you don’t have the ideal conditions to work with. But you show up anyway. With whatever you have. Maybe I couldn’t bring my full essence to my work today, but I showed up to serve. I still had something to give, after all. So here it is – this post!