A recipe can be a mantra, a ritual, a symbolic stay against chaos in the psyche and in the world My story has very little connection with this one (which is qu

A recipe can be a mantra, a ritual, a symbolic stay against chaos in the psyche and in the world My story has very little connection with this one (which is quite thought provoking). It just had me thinking about how a simple recipe somewhat saved my own personal life (in a much more mundane way). 2 or so years ago I was tired of being a little overweight. I say this as someone who was an athlete for most of my life and in my 20s just developed the "usual I sit at a computer all day and drink beer at night" belly. I was self conscious and I just didn't feel great. Anyways. I lost the weight. I didn't follow any fancy diets or doing anything complicated. I simply replaced my lunch with a fruit smoothie (usually just banana, milk and whatever berry I had) and then cut out drinking beer. Alcohol was still fine, but the single serving nature of beer vs. wine kept me from drinking a couple beers randomly. I drink a bottle of wine a week with my wife and enjoy it. It very much became a routine, no different from my monthly vimrc cleanup. I didn't have to think about it, it just became part of who I was and took zero time. It helped that I'll admit I actually really enjoyed banana smoothies and wine. I could never do Soylent (I love my dinners!), but I understand people who entertain the idea of food as routine. Vacations I let myself go, which makes vacations even more exciting. I don't think I'd have been able to keep to the routine without also working at a distributed company full-time. At previous jobs lunch was social, and after work drinks were social. I sometimes miss that stuff, but not really. My body feels better, which is great, but I know those hours just ended up back in my work (which to me was fine, I genuinely enjoy my work).