One of the first podcasts I got hooked on was WNYC’s Note to Self, hosted by Manoush Zomorodi. It’s all about living the good life with technology. Born out of that podcast was her book, Bored and Brilliant. Her thesis is that in order to be creative, whether for the purpose of mundane problem solving or artistic expression, people need time for their minds to wander and that daydreaming is cultivated in boredom. Unfortunately, our devices have rescued us from ever having to feel such discomfort. She offers seven challenges (one per day for a week) to help bring awareness and intentionality to our relationship with digital media and what it may be costing us. The book is helping me use my time more productively, and I recommend it to anyone else with that aim.
I’ve spent the month reflecting on my habits, good and bad, and what it takes to break old ones and establish new ones. It’s tempting to think that habits are routines that just happen as though at some point (21 days seems to be popular), you just end up at the gym as a default setting. It’s not true though. Both good and bad habits are daily decisions. The bottom line? Habits are decisions without deliberation.
When it comes to bad habits, I reach for the donut without considering the way it’s going to make me feel in an hour or the ways it may sabotage the goals I’ve set for my day. It’s a decision without reflection.
The same applies to good habits, except that I’ve done the deliberation ahead of time. I’ve already thought through the benefits of the practice, so instead of trying to rationalize or make excuses in the moment, I make the productive decision.
Breaking bad habits or establishing new ones isn’t about will power. It’s about reflection and decision-making. John Dewey knew it all along.
In 2019 I’m working through Our Best Home Cooking: Roosevelt County 1997 Family and Community Educators. Its contributors, members of the county’s homemakers’ clubs, are the basis for the characters I’m creating, or in cases like my grandma, they arethe characters. The recipes are artifacts of their daily lives.
I initially chose this recipe because I typically have the ingredients on hand. As discussed in a previous post, most of the recipes rely heavily on canned and processed ingredients, and it totally makes sense. This one, however, uses all real ingredients. It wasn’t until I read the notes that I realized this recipe showed its own love of convenience.
The recipe says to mince the onion and garlic and coat with olive oil. Cover with plastic wrap and MICROWAVE until the onions are tender. Then add the chopped broccoli and RECOVER the dish (the unstated assumption is that the first piece of plastic wrap is completely melted), and microwave again until the broccoli is tender. Squeeze lemon juice on top and serve!
I couldn’t do it, Agnes. I used the same ingredients, but roasted it in the oven at 400 degrees.
No one is perfect. These are the top three habits that threaten my writing goals and all-around good life.
1. One bad choice leads to another. Remember the If You Give a Mouse a Cookie books by Felicia Bond? My bad habit is like that. If one of the kids gets up before I start my morning routine, I’ll skip the water and go straight for coffee. If I have coffee, I’ll want a donut. And if I have a donut, I won’t want to work out. And if I don’t work out, I won’t drink water. You get the idea.
2. Consumption before creation. I’m pretty disciplined about sticking to the tasks of drafting, editing, and revising during designated times, but when it comes to unstructured time, I’m all over the place. I’ll sit down with all intention of writing, but get sucked down the rabbit hole of blogs, genealogy records, and Instagram. There’s nothing wrong with these things, but if I would add to my own creative output before consuming other people’s I know I would benefit.
3. I worry about what other people will think. There are people with wisdom, experience, and expertise that can help me. And then there are armchair quarterbacks calling down from the cheap seats. I tend to give them equal standing. Ugh.
One thing stood out as I chose a recipe from Our Best Home Cooking (Roosevelt County, 1997): these ladies loved canned food and convenience.
The book’s contributors were members of the county’s homemakers clubs and contemporaries of my grandma, who was born in 1924. In rural New Mexico, that was more than a decade away from having electricity, running water, or telephones in their homes. Add to that the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. Life was hard.
It’s no surprise then that they seem to be enamored with processed shortening, baking mixes, and microwaves. The Pioneer Woman’s cookbooks call for less processed food than the real pioneers of Roosevelt County circa 1997!
I should note that my grandma used bacon grease or butter more often than Crisco. She made biscuits and pie crust from scratch and still put up (that means canned) grape juice, preserves, and black-eyed peas. I tend to cook the way she did. I keep a jar of bacon grease in my refrigerator, I refuse to replace my cast iron skillet, pressure cooker, and Dutch oven with the Instant Pot, and I don’t remember the last time I used a can of cream of mushroom soup. Life is full of irony.
Coming soon: Italian Broccoli, shared by Agnes Jordan of the Bethel Club.