175. Making Muffins

A listener writes us an email while she’s baking banana muffins, her okay thing for the week. 

Transcripts may not appear in their final version and are subject to change.

Nora: I’m Nora McInerny, and It’s going to be okay.  This podcast is a little experiment. It’s a group project where we all know that many things are not okay. And yet, every weekday, we gather here to bring you something, some small thing that is okay. so that you can start or end, or I guess, I mean, you could listen to this at any time of day, but you could start or end your day with the opposite of a doom scroll. 

Today’s OK Thing comes from a listener who sent us an email.  

My OK Thing is making muffins on Sunday morning, listening to podcasts.  Podcast, by the way, is a very hard word to say out loud.  Podcasts. Podcasts.  

During the pandemic, I made a lot of banana muffins. So much so, I don’t need a recipe to follow anymore. 

Banana bread takes too long for my impatience. But banana muffins I can prep in about 30 minutes and bake in about 20 minutes, so my urge for immediate gratification can be fulfilled.  Making muffins is something I used to make as a kid with my mom, so it makes me think of her and feel homey.  Making muffins is relatively simple and I can be creative to vary the additions and it usually works out. 

Making muffins lets me be messy when I try so hard to control other things in my life.  The moments I especially enjoy is when the wet and dry ingredients come together. That’s a pretty consistent part of any recipe, for those who don’t bake. And I think, okay, I’ve got this. When I see the batter rising in the oven, I think, okay, it’s coming together.

And when I eat a muffin later in the week, as I rush to work in the morning, and I think, thanks for thinking of my future self. Thanks, me, for thinking of my future self.  Making muffins somehow settles me and helps me feel grounded.  I haven’t become an extravagant baker, just basic, and I’m okay with that.

So, today, while I was making blueberry muffins, a recipe I also almost know by heart, see picture, oh no, no, no, we don’t need that,  a recipe I also almost know by heart, I was binge listening to a week’s worth of It’s Going To Be Okay, and the two activities helped me feel a little bit better about me and my feelings. 

I love it.  With our powers combined. With podcasting and muffins combined. We can make everybody feel a little better about their feelings.