I baked a pie every day for a year and it changed my life

Pie is such a gift. My wife died nearly ten years ago and soon afterwards, I took up pie baking, which is something that she loved to do (I just loved to eat it — since childhood I've had a birthday pie instead of cake). I had all the stuff, after all. I got good at it and love to share them with friends at gatherings, or even just give them away entirely. Right before COVID, I did a Friday Pie Day thing where I gifted a pie to someone in town based on social media discussions. One time, someone got it for her coworkers who had just shipped a tough release.

For me the change would be to become spherical. That would simplify some calculations.

I’m of the belief that doing just about anything every single day for a year will change your life! A key for me has been to “lower the bar” so that I can keep the promise to myself and maintain momentum through days of low energy or enthusiasm, e.g. playing the guitar for 1 minute, or writing 1 sentence.

Being intentional in what we do and learn, and practicing it consistently, inevitably changes our lives.

We mostly live on autopilot, without thinking about what we love to do or what we might love to do.

Every day, we read about people whose lives have been changed by jiu jitsu, CrossFit, or learning a foreign language.

It is dedication, focus, goal setting, and practice that change our lives, not so much the activity we devote our time to.

Although pies are delicious and I love making them.

I decided to make rotis every day for a month (am male of Indian origin who hadn't ever cooked breads), AND eat them. The first one was completely inedible. The 30th day's rotis were edible, but nothing like what women in my family make. But still, edible.

Eventually had the confidence to experiment with making Naan.

This led to experimenting with Asian-style Pot-Stickers.

The main benefit to me was confidence, and belief in pmarca's "you can just do things".

I challenge each and every one of you to make a pie by the end of the month.

I made one, for the first time in my life, last week. It brought me tremendous joy not only to make it, but to have something nice to share with friends.

Not to take anything from any other activity that someone embraces, but I imagine that for the majority of people in the developed world, taking a 1 hour walk every day would be the most "life changing" thing you could do.

Baking everyday as a way to keep a professional identity is an interesting idea. Being semi-retired, I’ve noticed that I am starting to struggle the curiosity and motivation that kept me going when I still worked. This article makes me think I should pick up a habit of doing some “work” daily.

These kinds of stories may seem silly to some (certainly it would seem silly to my past self), but I think these narratives of personal journeys are going to become more and more important to humanity as AI and automation take over most jobs.

The sarcastic individual in me saw the title and thought "heh, and you got diabetes?" But I was pleasantly surprised after reading it about how wholesome this was.

I started practising guitar every day and it didn't change my life but I have a lot of fun doing it.

As someone who loves pie and has far fewer friends and family than the person this story is about, baking a pie every day for a year would also change my life.

A very timely article when many of us are wondering if AI will eventually push us out of a digital career into something else.

Lovely story but the beautification is a bit off.

> Hardin Woods would bake [...] using fresh ingredients local to her home in Salem, Oregon

> She baked her first pie, a lemon meringue

> The next day Hardin Woods made a peach pie

> After that came a chocolate cream pie

Does lime, peach and chocolate ripen within the same season in Oregon? Vickie cooking for is community is already touching, this claim about freshness and locality is skimmed by people who are already convinced, spotted by those who disagree and raise critics of the skeptics.

Refreshing. There truly is an almost mysterious bliss hidden in giving.

It is something hard wired in our brains. Cooking, social connection, giving, all in one. We evolved to cook for each other. No wonder she is damn happy. Being 60 helps too.

This reminds me of "The Artist's Way".

Nah, that's not a pie! [brandishes a Yorkshire meat and potato pie] Now, that's a pie.

Apologies to Crocodile Dundee.

If AI continues like this, we can all retire and bake pies all day long.

I would love a pumpkin pie right now. But I'd settle for pecan.

Is it just me or since The Guardian left twitter/X they've really been ramping up their paywalls/nagwalls? Love or hate X/Elon, that was really a dumb move on their part.

[flagged]

One of the most Guardian headlines of all time. I'm old enough to remember when they were a newspaper.

To be more precise: she baked breadbowls and calzones. :)

I didn't even read the article, but the headline made me smile.

Government job. Retired at 61. But I made a pie everyday!