Life will pay whatever price you ask of it – Tony Robbins
Forgive me for posting this a day late. Saturdays are the days I’m meant to discuss bigger life themes here, but life just shut me out as I was trying to compose this post. I’m still recovering from the flu-like symptoms and when I tried to do this ‘one more thing’, I feel asleep. My body insisted that I get some rest.
Anyway, I have a stronger message to share with you today because of that. It made me review my first week of putting this campaign out. I’m more excited than ever to support chefs, and even when I worry that I won’t have anything to say, I do find words to put down. Of course, without an actual audience, I don’t know whether any of this is helpful to you, but I listen in to my deeper intention to guide me here.
I then reviewed my process of working: I will honestly admit that the self-care that I advocate chefs to incorporate into their lives, I haven’t practiced myself. For me, I just wanted to get started, feed on the momentum created and build the campaign from there. I tend to sit and perfect things, rather than put them out. So my approach this time was to just do it, ignoring the fact that though I have started, my approach is not sustainable. You see, I currently work in five part-time gigs, and work extremely hard to carve out time for this passion project every day.
But is this my vision for how I live my life and this project? Is it okay for me to preach one thing and not follow my own advice? When I look closely, I’ve lived my life just like you do – this is even when I haven’t been working as a chef. That constant doing, giving my all, ignoring my wants and needs, not having space for myself everyday – this was my template for living.
It makes me question – why do I operate this way? Something in my worldview says that you always have to work hard. Strive. Prove yourself. Adapt. Fit in. Not see myself or what really matters to me.
What did I order from life’s menu?
Here’s a very profound poem written close to a century ago by American poet Jessie Belle Rittenhouse:
The Wage
I bargained with Life for a penny,
And Life would pay no more,
However I begged at evening when
I counted my scanty store.
For Life is a just employer,
He gives you what you ask,
But once you have set the wages,
Why you must bear the task.
I worked for a menial’s hire,
Only to learn dismayed,
That any wage I had asked of Life,
Life would have willingly paid.
Now that I’m aware of how I approach life, I want to reflect deeper and really see how it has impacted my life. My intention is to create tools and exercises so that you can do the same for yourself. But I want to leave you with what I want to order from the menu today: the space to show up to this project, the only work that I find meaningful today, whole, centred, and grounded.
What would you order from life’s menu, chef?