“This whole experience has really taught me that challenges aren’t the end of the road.”
Food has been a very divisive topic in my life. When I was young, cooking became a very big passion of mine. Unfortunately, life has a tendency to throw obstacles and challenges in your way when you least expect it. I was born with a very severe peanut allergy, and later in my adolescence I developed a soy allergy. A peanut allergy was an inconvenience, but it was something I had lived with my whole life. Unfortunately, a soy allergy was a different monster altogether. Soy is prevalent in almost everything you can imagine. There were so many things that I wouldn't be able to try or cook. It was very ironic that a person who loves cooking would develop so many allergies. I was no longer able to go out to eat, and I was no longer able to enjoy cooking. I felt creatively trapped. The whole fun of cooking for me was trying new things, and this made it even more difficult.
When I was in fifth grade, I had my first big allergic reaction. I was taken to the hospital and treated. The details of the reaction are not as important as the aftermath. I wouldn’t go as far as to say the incident was traumatic, but it did have a significant effect on me. It left me terrified of it ever happening again. I would sit and eat lunch in the office at school just to avoid sitting next to people that could possibly have had peanuts. I once broke down in a theater all because I saw they were serving them. Not only did these allergies make cooking very difficult, they made every other aspect of my life tough as well. I keep thinking that it was only a matter of time before another allergy was added to my roster. It was a tough couple of years to say the least.
Over time, I grew less afraid. About a year ago, I decided I would start immunotherapy for my allergies. They would give me microdoses of the allergen and slowly build their way up as I could tolerate more and more. I'm not going to pretend that the anxiety wasn’t there in the beginning. At first, I didn't want to do it, but I'm lucky to have such supportive and understanding parents. They have stuck with me this whole time, which allowed me to finally make the decision to start immunotherapy. I’m proud to say that it’s still going well. There have been a few hiccups along the way, but this process has really allowed me to take back control of my life. It has opened up so many new opportunities for me. While I don’t want to be a chef anymore, I still love food. Which is why I want to go into the field of Food Science. This whole experience has really taught me that challenges aren’t the end of the road. They help build you into something better.
- Anonymous