And, We’re Back.

I started The Particular Eater blog in October 2014. I stopped posting in October 2014. It’s funny how life turns out sometimes. I started this blog two and a half years ago because I was at a crossroads in my life. I had just finished grad school, had just come back from traveling for three months, and was embarking on the scary journey of finding a job, and a career.

I stopped posting because I found exactly that: a job. In a whirlwind series of events that October, I interviewed for a job, went to my grad school convocation and moved to Toronto for said job, all in a span of two weeks. And let’s just say I hit the ground running from day one. Two years later, I’m at a crossroads again, and it seems only fitting to pick up where I left off. I think my journey is not entirely unique, but is most certainly a lesson. I’m still learning every day about myself, and if I can tell my story and help someone to figure out their life a little better, well that’s all one can hope for I suppose.

So here I go, where I’m at now. After two and half years, I quit my job. It was a very difficult decision, but looking back, probably a long time coming. Probably a longer time coming than I first realized, but re-reading my first posts on The Particular Eater, made me have that realization. It was a great job, great people, good benefits, decent pay, the opportunity for growth- sounds perfect right? Well, on paper, yes. But, at the end of the day, I discovered that it just wasn’t what I wanted to be doing.

Of course, I’m sure there was an internal scoff at me saying this. The thought of ‘what a millennial thing to say’ or ‘be glad you have the privilege to even say that’. And trust me, I am more than grateful that I am in a position in my life, where not only can I acknowledge not being in the right job, but also being able to do something about it. So I did. I quit.

It was scary as hell, but ultimately the right decision. And here’s why: I took the job because I wanted experience, I also took it because I was scared. Scared that I would never be hired, never get a job because I spent so many years in school and all it ever really taught me was how to write a research paper and sharpen my procrastination skills during study time. I took a job in something I thought I wanted to do, in something that seemed to make the most sense. I studied Communications and Media Studies, so it just seemed like the right move to go into Marketing and social media. However, looking back at this blog, I ignored one critical point: It wasn’t a job in food.

I love food, it’s something I’ve always been interested in on a number of levels. Nutrition fascinates me, I love to bake and cook, I’m constantly thinking of my next meal; it is the reason why I started this blog in the first place. But, I ignored that little voice in my head. I let fear cloud my passion and decided to take the ‘safe’ route, the route that was what I thought I should be doing, not what I actually wanted. And in retrospect, a lot of my life has been decided this way. That’s why I ended up in grad school, because I thought it was what I ‘should’ be doing. That was a mistake. I have zero regrets about going back to school, I think I am who I am today because of it. I do recognize, however, that I went right back to being ruled by fear once I had finished. Habits die hard of course, but I was right back in that position, of doing something because I was afraid or because I thought it was the ‘right’ thing to do. So fast forward to today, actually about two months ago, and there I was making the scariest decision, probably of my life: to quit.

I decided that I was at a point in my life where I could take that risk. Aside from having to pay rent, I have about zero responsibilities, so didn’t I owe it to myself to see if I could pursue my passion, a career in the food industry? And that’s exactly what I did. I took about a month off, I needed the time to recoup. I went back home to visit Montreal and had some ‘me’ time. Once I recharged a bit, I started on the job hunt, and I am excited to say that I just finished week two working in catering and events for one of Toronto’s hottest Queen St. West restaurants.

And that is also what brought me back here. I am so grateful that I had started this blog two years ago, because I was able to jump back to that point in time and realize that I’m doing now what I should have done then: taking the less traditional route and pursuing my passion. I always say that you spend a lot of time working (the majority of your life, actually) so you might as well like what you’re doing. I’d like to not settle for ‘like’ and I want to love what I’m doing, and I think I’m on that path now.

So, I’m back and I hope you want to come along for the ride.

Cheers,

The Particular Eater