"My moma always said life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get."
In 1994, Film Director Robert Zemeckis and Hollywood legend Tom Hanks released a film about a man who overcame many challenges and managed to march right through everything that time put in his way to lead a fulfilling, happy life. The above quote was a part of the previews that played over and over and over on the television screen back then, and there was one very lonely little old lady who put a bit of thought into it.
She told me one day that while she understood where the man on the television was coming from, she had decided that he was wrong. She said that, in reality, life did not have to be like a box of chocolates, and that it could instead be like a chocolate cake. It was easy, she said !! Just think about it !! When you are making a chocolate cake, what do you do?
If you are thinking about making a chocolate cake, your very first order of business is going to be to make up your mind to do it. Is this same basic concept not relevant to everything else we do? If we are thinking about going to put on our shoes, we must first decide to do it. If we are thinking of going to the park, our first step is going to be the decision to not just "think" about going to the park, but to validate it with the fact that "we are going to the park".
It is true that some things can seem more complex than putting on our shoes, or baking a cake, (even though some cakes can get mighty fancy), but the core principles are the same. There are steps that we take to do everything. Even something as simple as going to bed requires steps of preparation that ensures a successful night of rest. When you are putting on your shoes, you have to make up your mind to put them on, then decide which shoes you are going to wear. You make the decision to wear socks, nylons, or nothing at all. THEN you put your shoes on. Just a few steps, but steps, nonetheless.
Now, back to the chocolate cake. If you have decided to make a chocolate cake, what should your next step be? Kick your shoes off, get in the kitchen and start baking? Oh no…. Nothing is ever so simple as that. You are going to have to determine what kind of chocolate cake you are going to make. Will it have nuts? Will it be made with buttermilk or will designer chips be stirred into it? What is the finished product going to smell like? A German Chocolate Cake? A Red Velvet Cake? Do you aim high, and opt for a Triple Chocolate Cheesecake? Are you the type who simply opens up a boxed mix and a can of frosting and calls it done? Whatever your choice, you still have to make that decision. It is important to note here that, just like in life, there are things that do not go well in a chocolate cake. Do not add beer to your chocolate cake. Please do not add pickles to your cake. It is just wrong to stir chicken into your chocolate cake. Once you add things that do not belong there, the effects are detrimental to the desired product. (Yes, pickles are great, but they do not belong in a chocolate cake.)
And then? Kick off your shoes, get in the kitchen and start baking? Oh no…. You have to make sure you have the right stuff first. If there is no cocoa in the kitchen, you are not going to be making a chocolate cake until after you go through a few more motions. What does this mean? Yep, you guessed it. You are going shopping. That’s going to open up another level of steps to be taken. You have to ask yourself first…Can you afford to go shopping? Do you really want a chocolate cake bad enough today to go shopping? Do you have time to go shopping AND bake a cake when you get home? Hm…Maybe not. If it takes you an hour to get to the store, an hour to shop, and an hour to get back home, you might just be too tired to bake a cake.
How is this like life, you might ask? Well, choosing a job is like baking a chocolate cake. What kind of job would you want? How much work do you want to put into shopping for one? Is it rewarding enough to make it worthwhile? Do you have the talent required for a particular task? Getting out of bed is like baking a chocolate cake. What are you going to do today? Where will you have to go? Do you have to get dressed? Who will you share your day with? Personal hygiene is like baking a chocolate cake. What do you want to smell like? What color do you want your nails? Which way do you comb your hair? You still have to shop for razors, shampoo, towels, to be sure you have the things you need to help you go through the motions.
If you still think you might want to bake that chocolate cake, and have all of your ingredients stocked, now is the time to get in the kitchen. Preheat the oven? Check. Mixing bowl? Check. Spoon or hand mixer? Check. Cake pan? Check. Ingredients? Check. Start mixing? Well… You might want to look at the recipe first. What comes first? Eggs? Sifting flour? Is your pan greased? Ingredients measured? Just like everything else in life, there is an order to be respected before you reach the finish line. Many know from experience that if a chocolate cake is not made right, then it is not a good cake. Likewise, you have to have a bath before you can go to a job interview (or at least it is recommended). Have to run maintenance on your car (or pay someone else to do it), if you expect it to run properly. And so we take the necessary steps in the defined order to build our cake, and our lives.
While your chocolate cake is in the oven, consider it carefully. Like life, a chocolate cake is finite. This means that there is only so much of it. It is meant to be shared, but it won’t be nearly so enjoyable if you spread it so thin that there just crumbs on each serving. Consider your resources. Consider your time invested. Consider that it is yours, and don’t let anyone steal not even a bite of your cake if you don’t want them to have it. There are 365 days in a year, and your average life span is 75. That means that you just have a ballpark figure of 27,375 days of your life. Who will you devote them to? Unfortunately, there are far fewer slices of chocolate cake, usually no more than 20. It’s okay to be selective. It is your cake, after all.
In closing, when your cake comes out of the oven, what will you do to it? Will you frost it? Ice it? Glaze it? Coat it with ganache? Sprinkles? Roses? Like a chocolate cake, life can be decorated. When overdone, it can seem gaudy and tacky. A pretty life, just like a pretty cake, has just the right amounts of flowers, just the right amounts of glitter, just the right flair to give it your signature. Anything more than that is lacking in good taste, and besides, you could have shared it with a friend for their chocolate cake.