NAME: Eshani Pareek⠀
BORN: Ahmedabad, India⠀
LIVES: Jersey City, NJ⠀
HANDLE: @thedancingcookbook⠀
I have always been a happy-go-lucky and carefree person. The past year has been especially jarring and definitely took a toll on my mental health. I realized how I took so many things for granted and how thankful I should be for the littlest comforts in life. For me, taking this time to reconnect with my creative self has been a steady respite through these tumultuous times. I returned to dancing, a beloved hobby after many many years, and also started to cook up a storm. The cooking was a big surprise for everyone who knows me (my mom is beyond elated!) because I was never one to enter the kitchen and suddenly, my head was full of recipe ideas that demanded creation.
This creative outlet and starting my blog have helped me stay optimistic and truly experience the therapeutic effects of creation. When I hear how people are creating and enjoying the recipes I share or how I was able to help them when they reached out, my joy doubles in knowing that I could spread some good vibes in these times. I aspire to continue spreading happiness and building an empathetic and supportive community. ⠀
To anyone reading my story, go revisit that long-lost hobby today – no matter how many years it has been or how good or bad you might be at it all these years later. If there’s one thing you and I should take away from my story, it is the beautiful realization that ‘when we create, we heal.’
