Dear World.

I may have written this while under the influence.

After what felt like the longest work week of my life (5 high-intensity days of more than 10 hours each) I went home one Friday night and I baked.

I had a few glasses of wine to unwind and release tension – and then I baked. It’s safe to say that I was under the influence of alcohol – not to point of no return. But, I felt lighter than usual. Haha.

After the first few glasses, I had a craving for muffins and so I went into the kitchen to bake.

Let me just say – I was perfectly safe. So for all the concerned loves and the self-righteous safety folk, no worries. I was fine and I am fine.

As with the process of baking, I gathered all that I needed along with my wine glass and bottle. With each baking step, I took a sip of wine and ensured to top up after a few sips.

I got the measuring stuff (some of which I didn’t bother to use), the eggs, the vanilla, the milk the bowls, the muffin tins, the etc.

Some of the processes, I don’t remember in entirety but sometimes processes are highfalutin anyways. And, when you’re under the influence of whatever, you tend to disperse your focus unevenly.

The end product though – that was good. Or it tasted good and looked good under the circumstances. I think drunk tasting might be different from sober tasting just as drunk looks might be different from sober ones?

Point is, there was an end product and those muffins were great to me.

Now, there’s no way I can guarantee that if someone else tasted those muffins the verdict would’ve been similar to mine. Cause my review was inebriated and subjective.

Some might even say that my process was flawed because I missed a fundamental step or whatever. It might even be that “you were drunk” so it doesn’t count.

Enough muffin talk.

I’m saying all this to say that:

All our actions happen because we are under the influence of something or someone. Whether or not we’d like to admit it, that is the truth.

There are people, concepts and other living and non-living influences that impact (whether positively or negatively) the decisions that we make daily.

It might be a role model, a point of view and it might be vices such as alcohol or drugs.

The onus is on us to determine whom and/or what is good for our lives in any given moment.

What drives you?

Know what I mean?

From that determination, decide what actions you wish to execute.

We won’t always make the best or the wisest decision. But, a decision is made none-the-less and we carry on and we (hopefully) learn from the consequences.

Some of the outcomes (good or bad) are share-worthy and others are not. The share-worthy ones will never be shared while the unshareable ones will at some point be shared.

Feedback will be forthcoming and it’s your job to sift through and choose what stays to affect your next influence driven decision and what doesn’t.

Okay, I’m done. I’m at the point of fully ‘talking while under the influence’.

So… what and whom are influences in your life and how do they affect the decisions you make?

Signed with love,

Candice