Despite my most fevered imaginations, this last week has sadly not transformed me into a Mary Berry or Gordon Ramsey equivalent. Nor have I managed to embrace veganism or even progress greatly up the scale into clean eating. While the challenge has encouraged me to try out a few new ideas and put a bit more thought into what we eat as a family, the main lesson learnt has, oddly, nothing to do with food at all.

I mentioned in an earlier post (Eureka... I've figured it out, it's all about the smile.) that I am a bit goal orientated, however, this challenge made me fully aware of how un-‘SMART’ (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-based) some of my goals really are. I halfheartedly joked about how I had not morphed into a Mary Berry or managed to go vegan but in my head that was exactly what was going to happen by the end of the week. The fact that it was not remotely realistic was neither here nor there, what mattered was this amazing transformation that I would undergo which would contribute to turning me into a much better person.

Seeing it on paper I realise how absurd it all is, but looking back, I see that a lot of my goals have been like that. I seem to completely disregard the attainable and realistic aspect of goal setting, the only and possibly the worst place I allow the dreamer in me free rein, and see myself achieving 0 to 10 in one giant leap.

The obvious problem of doing things this way is that it invariable ends in disappointment. Also, by being a bit too focused on the outcome I am forever placing my thoughts firmly in the future and in a lot of situations I know I consign the ‘now’ to something that just has to be ‘got over with’ in my hurry to reach my goal.

So perhaps I need to treat it as I would a recipe… prepare in advance and commit myself to the process, follow the steps, leaving nothing out but making any necessary tweaks that I require, put the dish in the oven and trust in the outcome.

Perhaps something to do with cooking after all!

Vicki