Personal Stories | Mental Health

How I Revolutionized My Mental Health Simply and Quickly With Cooking

My journey to a healthier life was through my kitchen and my stomach.

Lockdown sucked. We were stuck in our homes with nothing but last years Christmas gifts and a couple of board games from when we were younger. It was awful.

Between not feeling the sun on my face for days at a time and the constant noise around the house, my mental health was taking a beating and I could feel it declining; I was used to a quiet system of routine and privacy, but that seemed to be the only thing I wasn’t stuck in the house with.

Thankfully, I managed to escape; except not physically — that was not only ill-advised but also illegal, my house was a fortress and its walls were never breached save for the delivery man. Instead, I transported my mind to a happier place, one full of fulfilling work and excellent rewards.

The kitchen.

A Routine Is Key to Mental Health Success

In the dark weeks, before I began recovering, I started to yearn for the return of my routine. It had been so long since I had made it to midday without interruption that it genuinely developed into a need. That is where cooking first started to lend its loving grace.

With more people around the house (and McDonald's staying closed), I had no choice but to feed everyone all day. And at the start, all of this cooking probably began having a negative effect on my mornings — milk, cereal, toast and butter were all minor time sinks that I loathed waking up to.

But once I started making pancakes, things got a little better, and I don’t even like pancakes that much — they’re just sweet Yorkshire puddings. It turned out that the extra effort I put into making something hot and fresh had scratched that itch that my brain had for routine.

After all, what is a recipe if not a micro-routine.

So I began expanding, enchilada kits started to disappear from my shopping delivery in favour of tomatoes and onions, if I was going to do this I was going to do it right. So meals that had a component I could make from scratch became much more common in the house, and not only did I start to feel like myself again, but everyone else started to appreciate me more. Particularly when I made something they enjoyed, it was no McDonald’s, but it was hot and plentiful and that’s all that mattered to them.

Left Brain, Right Brain. Which Is the Creative One Again?

So I had my routine back, I would wake up, make breakfast, wait a few hours, make dinner, wait a little more and then make lunch before heading to bed.

But I began to wonder, what kind of life was that?

I had become a slave to an incomplete routine, with gaps in the day spent waiting for the next opportunity to cook something, until I realised — why wait? Everything I was making was intended to be eaten that day, so why couldn’t I make it ahead of time and save myself the constant back and forth?

This realisation led me to the final iteration of my routine, and by far my favourite. I would wake up and make breakfast, but before I cleaned down, I would also make the rest of the meals for the day. It allowed me to really get into the zone and find my flow, resulting in huge levels of enjoyment and excellent results.

With a dedicated space and time to experiment, I started to spread my culinary wings into other types of foods; baking, bread-making and even making falafel were perhaps the highlights of my creative attempts to try other food groups.

And since I did this all in the morning I still had plenty of time to focus on the other hobbies I had been convinced to try after the success of my morning cook-a-thons. I started painting despite being colourblind, and although it was a great way to be creative at home, it never took time away from my kitchen life — that was sacred.

Mind Fixed. Life Fixed. Smile Fixed

Even though it would take months longer before I could finally say goodbye to my new routine and welcome the old one back to the fold, I don’t think I ever truly let go of it all. I still make as much food as I can in the morning and enjoy myself doing it.

I even have a little secret, I miss lockdown. Not the dangerous, life-changing parts, but the small changes that stuck with us all since we left. I have slotted right back into my old life with a newfound appreciation for cooking and creating wonderful meals, and if you had a similar journey then I salute you, or if you didn’t, I am sure you found something equally as rewarding in the process.

Find something that makes you happy, and cling to it with all you have.

Did you enjoy this story? Do you want to learn more about life and cooking around the world? Then by all means have a look at my other posts on similar topics such as these below.

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