Too Much

If you're like me, you like to cook and you like to look for new recipes on the internet in places like Pinterest and Facebook. Usually, my preferred method of doing this is ideally scrolling through when I have some spare time, and saving the recipes that look good. Sometimes, however, I need to look up a recipe for a certain occasion. In this case I will do a search for...lets say, roasted carrots recipe. If I do this on Pinterest, (an I am guessing just about anywhere else) my screen is suddenly bombarded with pictures of perfectly roasted carrots in just the right lighting, with a professional-looking title proclaiming something like "The Perfect Roasted Carrot Recipe" or "Roasted Carrots with a Touch of Thyme and Lemon Sage" or "Fancy-Smancy Carrots Roasted Over an Open Fire with Imported Truffle Oil and Edible Gold Dust".

What the? Is it just me or is this a bit excessive for FREAKING CARROTS?! Granted I asked for carrots. I just didn't expect carrots to be shoved down my throat with a silver fork and a drip of the finest olive oil. Are they good? Sure. Do they justify three days preparation and a blood sacrifice? Probably not. I'm all about good food and doing things well, but it just seems like a lot of people are over-doing it when it comes to posting a recipe or any kind of information. There are 30 different pictures of the carrots being made, and a whole back-story about how your grandma always made these carrots, and now you make them once a week or the whole world might spin off it's axis and we will all go hurtling into space.

Take a deep breath people! We will all live if the carrots are sub-par! Maybe people find this shit enjoyable, but I sure as hell would be exhausted trying the create the perfect roasted carrot recipe post. Think of the long photo-shoot hours! Think of the styling, the writing, the designing, the 32 batches of carrots that are in the garbage because they were not "just right". Think of your children crying in the background because they have had nothing but sub-par carrots for two days and they can't get you to do anything but circle a plate of carrots with your camera and mutter "Nope, start again. The one on the left is a bit too squishy-looking". MY GOD! It gives me anxiety just thinking about it!

It just seems like there is too much pressure and too much competition these days. It's not enough to be good at something. You have to be the best that ever lived or you won't stand out. But why? Why do we do this when it stresses us out and makes us miserable? What happened to a simple and happy life? What happened to a life where you may not be remembered by everyone, but you slept long and well every night knowing you didn't have to get up at 2AM to tend to your carrots? Life is not perfect, and simplicity will not solve everything. But I think we could all rest a bit easier if we just stopped trying to do too much.