Hello friends! Today is my final guest poster for my week of stress management tips. Today I present to you my new friend Carla from Chocolate Moosey! She is an awesome baker and she sweetly agreed to open up to all of you today and share her stress management experiences. With out further a’do, I present Carla! Enjoy
Hello, everyone! I’m Carla from Chocolate Moosey. I want to thank Erin for having me guest post today.
Stress is something everyone experiences, whether you are a student, a worker, a parent, whatever you do for a living. And everyone has different ways of dealing with stress – reading, running, sewing, gardening, fishing.
For me, I have baking. I may be exaggerating, but food has saved my sanity. Several times. Funny I’m writing this post of all days because today marks Chocolate Moosey’s five year anniversary.
Five years ago, I studied abroad in Ireland. During my last month, I had a tough time dealing with my homesickness. Blogging allowed me to focus my energy on something positive and not so much on my emotions.
Of course over the years, that all changed. After graduating college, I blogged less and less. Then almost two years ago, I moved to a small country town by myself. No friends or family within 2.5 hours.
I work at a male-dominated company in a male-dominated career. Everyone in my building is either in a relationship, married, and/or has kids. For awhile, I was the youngest one in the building and the only female in my department. I had such a hard time connecting with people. Pair that up with living alone, and the loneliness quickly takes over.
Image from Tumblr
Soon things were getting worse. I pretty much lost hope in everything. I wish I could say how, but after having one of the worst nights I can remember, I woke up the next day, saying I needed to change before I hurt myself.
After redesigning CM, I focused my energy on blogging again. I went from 1-3 times a month to 1-3 times a week. I became a part of the Twitter community and made some amazing foodie friends. For once in my life, I feel like I belong.
I feel alive.
Food has such a positive impact on my life. When I’m not at work, chances are I’m doing something food-related, whether it’s cooking, baking, blogging, photographing, reading cookbooks, writing down ideas, talking on Twitter, or watching tv. I get so excited when I find new recipes or ingredients.
Funfetti
Cheesecake
I’m more of a baker than a chef because I find it so therapeutic. I love making dough, especially if I have to knead it. It’s funny when you have to knead it for 8 minutes, and the next thing you know, time is up.
Cupcakes are a favorite to make too. Last week, I entered a cupcake contest. All I had to do was drop the cupcakes off for judging. As I was prepping, I was extremely nervous. However, as soon as I started measuring, those feelings subsided. I just knew everything was going to be ok.
Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes
Thank you so much for your touching post Carla! I am so happy to have gotten to know you over the past few weeks and look forward to sharing more recipes with you
Want to hear more from Carla and her awesome baking adventures? Follow her on Twitter, or be her friend on Facebook!
Image from French By Design
About bigfatbaker
I’m so not a baker and I find baking stressful because it actually requires me to measure. That aside, food is my solace. Creating recipes or trying something new sings to my soul. Sharing it and getting the feedback makes my day, a single comment on a post is all I need to keep me optimistic about the world. I love the food blogging world. It is a life outside myself yet within myself….I definitely feel a sense of accomplishment when I have made something not just wonderful for my family to eat but something that I can share http://www…..
Hi, just stumbled on your blog. I have always loved baking. And the recently started to blog. It really feels to good and exciting to prepare something and put it on the blog and then wait for the comment for the feedback. It is something that have motivated me to do better.
Thanks for saying hello
I agree, it’s always so nice to put something up and get a little feedback.
It’s nice to meet you Carla! Food speaks to me too! I remember special moments in my life do to food, crazy huh! My Husband says remember we wnet there, and I have to think about it, and than he goes, thats when you had nachos, than I’m like oh yah! The I remmebr. lol
I’m going to check out your blog. Have a wonderful day!
Nice to meet you, Carla! Food has a way of bringing folks together.
Great job! As someone who just moved to a new city too, it energized & reminded me that I still have tons of blogger friends!
That is awesome! Stay strong and positive, you have your blogging friends here to support you
Great post! I love to bake, but not often enough …. Maybe that’s what I need to do. And maybe I can start blogging again. Thank you
You’re welcome
Thank you for stopping by!
Baking and blogging are my 2 of my biggest outlets, and probably have saved my sanity more than once. What a great piece!
Thank you for stopping by Melissa!
Great post and just what I needed to hear. Baking is my therapy too!
Thank you for stopping by Emily! I hope it helps
Great guest post and oh so true.
Very honest and touching post Carla. I think finding out what makes you happy and doing what you enjoy gives you a true sense of identity, normally these are things that will lead to happiness and fulfilment. I feel very Buddha today… ; )