I wish I had a better excuse for my most recent hiatus, but to be frank, I simply gave up for a bit. It’s like going to the gym; you miss one day of working out and magically every day thereafter not only do you continue skip the gym, but you also find it in yourself to eat an entire frozen pizza for breakfast (in my defense, it was thin crust). For a few weeks, I felt like a guppy, realizing that my plans on becoming an orca were probably not coming true and questioning if I was even swimming in the right pond. Perhaps it was my upcoming birthday that made me feel like everything I’ve ever wanted to achieve should have been accomplished by now. Funny how birthdays after 21 can cause existential crises via cliche ocean metaphors.

Amid my twentysomething’s sea of self doubt and perpetual reluctance to get out of my PJs, I headed to the kitchen where I knew I could find some form of comfort. In times of heartbreak and ennui, I find nothing more remedying than a big bowl of soup and a hot cup of tea. With some Earl Grey, lemon and honey in hand, I crafted up a hearty miso soup to fill my stomach and added in some chicken and egg noodles to sooth my soul. As I was slurping away under my favorite blanket (sorry Jay I know you hate it when I eat in bed!) I realized that even on my darkest days, I can reliably find solace in my cooking and even more happiness through writing and sharing my kitchen adventures with the world. It suddenly felt so obviously silly that I was on the brink of giving up my short lived blogging career to find a more meaningful job when in fact stepping away from something I care so deeply about was probably why I was in an emotional slump in the first place! Perhaps I’ll never become the next Mark Zuckerberg and I’ll probably never be able to afford my own private island, but I do have a sincere passion for food and writing that I always plan on making time for and that’s certainly something to be thankful for.

In the mean time, give this Chicken Noodle Miso Soup for the Soul a try. I can’t guarantee an aha moment, but I can promise you will be warm. Very, very warm.