Hit 100 air fryer recipes and felt like a fraud

I crossed the 100 recipe mark last Tuesday when I made air fryer Brussels sprouts. But here's the thing, I still mess up basic stuff like getting the temp right for frozen chicken wings. I had 3 batches come out rubbery before I figured out the trick on page 87 of my notebook. It made me wonder if hitting a big number really means anything when you still burn toast more often than you'd like. Has anyone else hit some milestone and felt like they don't actually know what they're doing?

3 comments

3 Comments

sanchez.julia2d ago

My buddy Mike hit 200 recipes on his air fryer blog and posted this big celebration thing. Then the next week he tried making simple hash browns and they came out like soggy cardboard three times in a row. He told me he felt like a total phony standing there with a spatula full of mush. I reminded him that even professional chefs mess up scrambled eggs sometimes and it doesn't erase the 199 other times they got it right. Numbers just mean you showed up a bunch, not that you're perfect. So I get where you're coming from with that fraud feeling, it's pretty normal.

the_sage2d ago

Oh man, that Mike story hit close to home. I got a buddy who's a woodworker and he spent months building this super detailed coffee table, posted all these pictures of the process, got a ton of praise. Then a week later he tried making a simple cutting board for his mom and the thing split right down the middle while he was sanding it. He was so bummed he almost threw his tools in the trash. I told him the same thing you told Mike. The 200 good things don't disappear just because you messed up one simple thing. That feeling of being a fraud is just your brain being mean to you, it's not the truth.

waderamirez2d ago

The_sage nailed it with that bit about our brains being mean to us. Man, I once spent three hours trying to fix a loose drawer on a dresser I built, only to realize I'd put the whole thing together upside down. Felt like a genius for like a second before the shame hit. But your buddy's cutting board story makes me think, maybe we're all just one simple mistake away from feeling like we don't belong, even when we got two hundred wins behind us. It's wild how one split piece of wood can make you forget all the perfect joints and smooth finishes.