Why rinse chicken?

I know what you're thinking, "'Why rinse chicken?' What kind of name is that for a blog about this girl's life???"

Over the past few years, I've learned a lot about myself and a lot about life (more specifically my life and my views on life). My journal is a great way to document all of it, but for awhile I've wanted to share it. There are so many things that I have thought about and experienced that I just KNOW other people must be thinking about and experiencing too. I know I'd feel a lot better if I knew other people felt this way and I'm sure they'd like that reassurance too.

For a few days, I had been trying to come up with a name for this blog that I wanted to start. Then yesterday, my best friend and I got in a completely unrelated conversation. She asked me, "Why do people rinse chicken?" She had been reading some recipes that told her to rinse the chicken first. Coincidentally, I had seen a cooking show just last week where the host asked the same thing, and I always wonder to myself why my husband rinses chicken before he cuts it up to cook it. Seems to me you are just creating more opportunities to touch things in your kitchen with contaminated chicken hands. Do you rinse a steak or a pork chop? You're going to cook it! There's no reason to rinse it first (unless, of course, you dropped it on the floor or something)!

But as usual, I thought more about this question. Why do people rinse chicken? They must have learned it from somewhere, never questioned it themselves, and it just became a habit.

Why don't we question things more in our life? Lately, my thoughts are often preoccupied with the topic of happiness. All my life I've thought that I have to have a certain job (or a career in general), have a certain amount of money in the bank or live a certain way to be happy. Where did I learn this? TV, society in general, teachers? I never questioned it. But what if those things aren't making me happy? Isn't everyone unique? And shouldn't we, therefore, have different paths to happiness?

For me, it's hard to get over the hurdle that people will judge me if choices I make stray from this standard. Intellectually, I know I shouldn't care what other people think, but when you've held certain things as a standard your whole life, it's hard to let go of them just like that.

Why rinse chicken? See where that took my brain!! I'm sure a lot of my posts will come out of simple questions like this that get me thinking about other things going on in my life. So it just seemed to fit for me and my blog!

This will be a blog about my life: the good and the bad, and my thoughts on things I'm experiencing and on ideas & topics that stem from those experiences. I'll try to include photos as often as possible, as photography is one of my favorite hobbies and is one thing I know makes me happy, despite the fact that I'm an amateur at best. And of course, I'll probably write about normal everyday things that are happening in my life too. I hope you all enjoy reading about my life, can relate to some of the things I am going through, and will engage in conversations with me and other readers through comments. I'd love to hear about your similar (or different) experiences and your thoughts on my reflections. Please be honest but kind! This blog is a part of my growth process more than anything and is not intended as advice of any kind. If you can relate to it or are inspired by it, that's just a bonus!