Any new beginning is forged from the shards of the past, not from the abandonment of the past.

Craig D. Lounsbrough

When I was in business school, we had a group assignment to discuss our dreams. I now had an opportunity to reflect and go back to the drawing board (and still is). To rediscover my dream, paint it and feel it.

Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go. They merely determine where you start.

Nido Qubein

Above all else, for me, food has always been the medium of communication. Through sharing a meal, we talk about our days, hopes, challenges and converse in more ways than other forms. My joy comes from watching others converse, connect and reconnect while sharing a meal. It also proves that; we were not born to spend life alone. We need each other, in many ways and in more ways. I have lived alone for the longest time, not by choice. Because of life circumstances that were beyond my control. It hurt in many ways. It’s something I don’t wish even on my worst enemy (if I had any). However, I believe the burden was for me to endure, the cross was for me to carry. Through it all, I became weak and vulnerable. I had no direction in life, and sometimes I didn’t want to be amongst the living. It hurt, it hurt so much.

Although the process hurt so much, I’m a strong believer of ‘everything happens for a reason’. Those who inflicted so much pain in me, will never know how deep my wounds are. They will never know how many sleepless nights I have had. But, it’s okay, the cross was for me to carry. If it wasn’t me, who was it supposed to be?

It was these experiences that I learned to be kind, because I understand there are invisible wounds we carry as human beings for whatever reason. I have become stronger. I have become wiser. Thus, I shall live for my purpose.

Today, I blame not those who have prosecuted me without cause, their reward is awaiting them. And they shall receive in tenfold, for each and every wrongdoing.

Today, I’m truly grateful that those experiences didn’t wipe me away and I look forward to a highly blessed and favoured future.

 I look forward to cooking more, because it is through cooking that sometimes I forgot my problems. It is through cooking that I never stopped loving. Every meal, every bake had my whole heart in it. I shall continue to pour more love as my cup is over flowing. And if it gets empty (because life happens), it shall be filled again.