Greatest strength

When I moved out of my parents' house and I first tried my hand at cooking, I was hit with a quite urgent need to work out a plan for my life that included preparation of my meals by someone other than myself. I would make a mess of the most basic of dishes, with even rice coming out soggy or burnt. It took years before I began gradually feeling good about the meals I cooked and, frankly, I am still humbly evolving in this regard today.

I was hard on myself. I compared my cooking to my mum's, wondering how she did it and when I would ever get there. It took me a very long while to realise that by the time I was old enough to remember my mum's cooking, she had been at it for many, many years.

We all have to start somewhere, and this is true regardless of the endeavour. Whether we have just started a new career path, started a new hobby, or are navigating a new role in our personal lives such as becoming a spouse or a parent, no one starts out knowing what they are doing. All the study in the world cannot replace the experience of spending years just doing something again and again, learning from every step and misstep along the way.