I lived most of my life eating food made by other people. This isn't unusual because most people live this way; either they have family or friends cook all their meals, or they buy their meals. There's certainly nothing wrong with this lifestyle. Afterall, I lived most of my life okay with that way. But little did I know, I was missing out.

There's a reason why so many people look happy while cooking.

I started cooking for myself regularly about a week ago. Meaning, I actually went to the grocery store, picked the food I liked that wasn't packaged snacks nor frozen food, and made a plan to cook most of my meals with what I bought.

At first, I was scared and vulnerable, kind like the people on naked and afraid, except fully clothed and in the kitchen with food. For some reason, I felt self-conscious. I thought every move I made would be met with ridicule if I burned something. But the fact of the matter is that I was the only one in the kitchen, thus the only source of ridicule. The only other person in the house was my dad, and he was always doing his own thing, too far away to do any ridiculing.

I realized it was stupid to be afraid to burn something. The worst that could happen would be burnt food I'd have to throw away. But the best thing that can happen is tasty food that came from me.

One week later, I'm much more satisfied with the food I eat. It's not that I created especially tasty food, but I was smart enough to follow recipes that resulted in food that was good!

Here are a couple noteworthy creations of mine:

Chicken Fried Rice with Pan Fried Bell Peppers and Brocolli

Sweet Fire Tofu with Rice and Red Bell Peppers

As you can see, I like rice, bell pepper, and Asian food in general, which is a good thing to recognize because I ideally want to cook the food I like.

I feel happy with what I create in just 10-15 minutes. Not only do I get better at it, I'm rewarded with tasty food I actually like.

Wanna learn how to cook, too? Start simple. Find a YouTube video showing how to cook something you like and in the amount of time you're willing to spend. Then, get in the kitchen and do it! That's what I did, and I wish I started sooner.