I was a loser, and had never been happier.

It’s that time of year when my favorite place in North Carolina pops up for a short period of time.

No, I’m not referring to the infestation of Spirit Halloween, but the NC State Fair!

I love the fair, even though they no longer have my beloved pig races. It’s a vibe, with people watching, food galore, arts and crafts, exhibits, animals, agriculture, and the pure joy of the sunshine hitting you in the face while you shoulder through a crowd of people.

(Okay, the crowds are sometimes a lot which is why opening day is my favorite hack for less people.)

This year though, I got a sweet tip that led me to a whole new type of fair experience: the opportunity to compete myself.

I had never thought about entering one of the competitions because I didn’t think I was good enough or interested enough in one particular craft. I had done some similar competitions as a kid and remember it being stressful while obviously looking kid-made. I didn’t think anything would entice me to sew an outfit, paint a picture, or decorate a cake- my favorites of the showcases.

But then a friend sent me the home chef competition, a veritable smorgasbord of potential ways to show off your cooking skills without any pretense of being an expert. I love tinkering around in the kitchen, experimenting with flavors, recipes, and ideas.

I have a motto in my kitchen, while experimenting: it may be good, it may be bad, but I’m going to eat either way! Luckily, I haven't strayed too far into the “so bad I can’t stomach it” range. Yet.

And this is what led me to entering my first cooking competition.

The “Keep Your Eye on the Pie-ze” No Bake Pie challenge was the best suited to my particular skills- one of creative combinations and low technical ability.

My “Blueberry Basil Bliss” pie was the perfect thing- tart and sweet, lemony with a subtle basil finish. It was simple, but purely pie. And as an added challenge, I made it dairy free. Cause I could.

The test run went great, everything melded beautifully, looked fantastic, had thumbs up from all test subjects. The real one…. Less so.

It was just not my day. And so I got nervous- nervous that it was not good enough, nervous about what the competition would be like, what the judges would say, and how miserably I would fail. It just wasn’t good enough.

But I had committed, so off I went the next day, down to the fair grounds with pie in hand.

I got on the shuttle and sat, waiting for the driver to deliver us to the front gate, when another pie came on. Competition was here.

Strangely, that’s the moment it all became okay.

I was so excited to see someone else with a pie, that all my nerves turned to excitement. I was here! I was in a pie competition!

This was an adventure in novelty, where the goal wasn’t perfection or first place (which would have been great, don’t get me wrong), but to have done it. The goal was the process of doing something new, interesting, humorous. Because why, with someone whose so haphazard in her kitchen, would I be trying to be perfect at the thing I do for joy!?

Perfection is the enemy of joy. At least that’s the imperfect version of that phrase I’m going to live by.

The rest of the competition flew by: every volunteer walking in thanked me (with a wink and a smile) for bringing them a delicious treat, each security check came with the joke “I’m going to have to confiscate that, ma’am.” Even the people checking in the participants were thrilled to see each beautiful and tasty entry.

As the judges took their tastes there were hoots and hollers from contestants, chit chat and support for those who’s pies were shown around you, and the absolute best people cheering you on. I even got interviewed for a radio show.

It was a blast!

Pursuing this novel experience allowed me to be creative, embrace imperfection, and remind myself that the journey was not for the purpose of the destination.

I was a big loser that night, if you’re talking about ribbons.

Some of the volunteers told me they snuck bites in the back after judging and that they thoroughly enjoyed it. But there will be no official winners ribbon hanging in my office this year. And that’s really okay. The journey was worth the destination.

If you want to try a competition in your state, here’s my ranking system (each out of 5 possible) on this type of novelty:

Talk soon,

Rachel
Leadership trainer, novelty junkie, and human being

P.S. The picture above is of me, my pie, and the judges digging in.  

Thanks for joining me on my search for novelty and one human-centric leaders's journey towards a more balanced life.