These days my emotions are whipsawing back and forth between joy from time spent in the garden feeling connected to the earth to a sense of dread from eerily red sunsets that are the result of huge fires burning a thousand miles away. All of this plus surpassing six months of an altered reality that means very little socializing and (in my case at least) no respite from cooking other than the very occasional takeout pizza means I can become exhausted from the mere mention of preparing yet another meal. Fighting burnout in the kitchen has gone from a short skirmish to an extended, drawn out battle. Maggie Hoffman at Epicurious understands this emotional state and provides advice on how we can cope with these emotions.

This burnout can happen to everyone whether or not they love to cook. For those who normally take great pleasure in preparing meals or baking treats, reaching this stage can feel especially harsh. According to psychotherpist Anna Lindberg Cedar who is quoted in the article, one thing we should remember is that burnout is not the same thing as stress, and it needs to be approached a bit differently. “We experience stress with the adjustment to any life change, positive or negative. Getting married causes stress. Job promotions. But with burnout, you stop functioning. You stop doing the things that you typically care about, or you do them, but not very well, or without much feeling. You begin to lose touch with who you are,” she explains.

Although it may seem counter-intuitive, Cedar says we should refocus our efforts on the task that used to provide great comfort instead of taking a break from it or avoiding it. This doesn't mean just slog through it, she notes. Instead, it means approaching cooking with mindfulness, concentrating on each sensation as you perform routine things like chopping vegetables or stirring a pot. Cooking with a focus on each sensation, she says, “can help you find respite even in a chaotic world.”

The article suggests ways we can remain connected with family and friends with whom we would normally share our meals, and other mechanisms to employ to keep the kitchen spark alive. For me this has meant pulling down cookbooks that I have not read in awhile, just for the sake of reading them. I don't put any pressure on myself to find tomorrow's lunch, I merely leaf through them and take it all in. Sometimes a beguiling recipe coaxes me back into the kitchen, but even if not, I always find browsing my collection to be time well spent.