“If life hands you lemons, make lemonade”, is an old adage used to encourage optimism in the face of adversity. Lemons are sour and symbolize life’s challenges, whereas lemonade is sweet. In other words, turning negativity into positivity.
Do people actually use this saying? WAKE UP! You don’t get lemonade from lemons. You get tart, acidic, burns-your-tongue-when-you-sip lemon juice. You need sugar to make lemonade. And if you had sugar, you wouldn’t be complaining about the lemons now would you? I know that platitudes are rather easy targets, but this one just irks me.
After doing some research into this 'saying', I've found some really beautiful variations though-
“When life gives you lemons, learn to juggle”
“When life gives you lemons, sell them on eBay”
“When life gives you lemons, consider it a sign to start dieting. Ek nimbu paani please”
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for seeing the good in bad situations. I also think food CAN solve numerous problems in life. But that doesn’t mean you have to transform something bad into something good. Being handed a lemon is tough. It’s usually followed by a tsunami of emotions- rage,despair,disgust, annoyance, and many more, but definitely no immediate emotions that would make you want to produce lemonade. Sometimes you just need to sit with the bad situation. Not wallow in self pity, but not scramble to feign success either.
It may take a few hours
It may take a few months (lemons have a long shelf life)
But one day, you might wake up next to your lemon and think, “I suppose I could use some lemon zest to brighten up that dinner recipe...”
Or you might just say “cooking sucks- I’m just gonna throw it out the window...”
When things aren’t going too well, you’re not required to be valiant and transform the bad into good. Sometimes you need to wait for a recipe that makes sense. Jumping to solutions hurts your chance to explore. Wait for a pool of wine instead of plunging into a tub of water.
Or in this case, a tub of sour, unsweetened ‘lemonade'
