A Welcome Back, A Quick Pep-Talk, and A Vegetarian Chili

Hello all! Long time no see, and boy am I glad to know you're still interested in reading. Today I'm providing a delicious vegetarian chili recipe for you all to try! For those of you who worry about how much (or, rather, how little) protein you're getting in your day this protein-packed recipe is for you! Additionally, what better time of year than Super Bowl and cold-weather season to introduce a chili to your meal rotation?

However, before we get to the recipe card, I just wanted to say how grateful I am to be back and posting on this site again. Over the latter half of 2022, I seemed to have lost myself to some not-so-fulfilling endeavors. We've all been there. Sometimes you just don't take the time you need to truly nourish your body and your soul, and that could be for a whole variety of reasons.

For me, much of my brief fall from grace was sparked by a new battle with anxiety I had not yet experienced: frequent panic attacks. Now, I've had anxiety for the better part of my life, it's not new, but panic attacks were few and far between for me until this past year. It's been a battle, to say the least, but with some serious effort, I've come to a place where I'm feeling more confident as feelings of panic come on. As with all health issues, mental health issues take lots of tools to manage and everybody is so different it often takes time to discover what tools work for you. There are times when I feel like I'll never stop fighting my anxiety, and then there are days like today when breakthroughs are abundant. Sometimes I get tired, but I'm trying to practice patience and take time to appreciate how my tiredness shows just how much work I've been doing.

To those of you who have conquered or are in your own process of conquering your relationship with mental health: I see you and I hear you. This stuff is hard. There's little more disheartening and exhausting than what you've had to do to get this far, but oh how far you've come. Oh how far we've come.

In my own efforts to continue trudging forth on the warpath, I am re-engaging with the things that I know bring me joy and fill my brain with all those happy little chemicals that tell me I'm here, I'm doing it, and it'll all be okay. I'm letting myself enjoy things again and disconnecting from the part of myself that wishes to identify fully with my anxiety. Thus, here is my first recipe and accompanying blog post in quite some time, and it is full to the brim with every comforting flavor you could ask for!

Cheers to the New Year and cheers to all the goals we've set out to accomplish in it!

Warmly,

Madison Rhe