Getting injured is an undeniably stressful experience. From the moment of the injury itself to the potential months of recovery that follow, it is often hard to keep your spirits high. Especially when your injury forces your life to come to a complete halt- not only are you sad and stressed but you may also just be bored out of your mind. Your injury may limit you from participating in activities you love, such as sports, or even prevent you from attending school. When going through recovery, you will, without a doubt, look for things that will both boost your mood and fill your time. Proper recovery requires lots of rest, so your life will most likely not be filled with strenuous or taxing activities for a little while. The simple things in life will be found to be a saving grace!

According to a study from the Journal of Positive Psychology, people who frequently take part in creative, simple, and light-hearted tasks report that they are more relaxed and happy in their everyday lives. While recovering from an injury, happiness and relaxation are both things you desperately want and need. There are lots of creative and easy activities a recovering person can involve themselves with, one of which is baking. Many people use baking to destress and or raise their spirits. Kimberly Destefano, a Pennridge High School teacher, feels similarly, saying that baking makes her feel “calm and relaxed.” In the case of many injuries, baking is a great way to keep your mental health in check and have some fun in a generally unenjoyable time. Taking the time to bake something provides so many benefits, from improving your concentration to boosting your self-confidence. It can also help you feel a sense of control during a period of your life where you feel helpless and like everything is out of your control- emotions often associated with times post-injury. The concept of recovery and accepting its longevity can be daunting and lead to emotions of fear and sadness. So baking and other simple activities of that nature can be an outlet for you to push aside the more heavy thoughts that may be consuming your life after an injury.
Baking is a great way to escape from reality and get creative with your recipes. You can make healthy and beneficial desserts or satisfy your sweet tooth while recovering. An easy way to ease into the hobby of baking is starting with box recipes. They are simple and allow you to learn the small steps, but everybody loves a nice homemade dessert. While recovering from an injury, you can bake to have a fun hobby and keep it nice and easy. Here are some of my favorite easy recipes to try at home while you recover.

Cookies are always a go-to; when asking both Destefano and Pennridge student Meredith Detwiler what they like to bake the most, they both replied with “cookies.” Detwiler comments, “they’re easy, especially when you’re hurt and life isn’t going your way.” You can create many different types of cookies, such as chocolate chip, sugar cookies, snickerdoodles, or oatmeal raisins. If you want to go on a healthier route with your recipes, you can add protein into your cookies and substitute certain ingredients to create a healthier alternative. You can make dozens of cookies in one sitting and share them with your family and neighbors, and they only take a few minutes to make!

Mug cakes are as easy as it gets in baking. You toss ingredients into a mug and put it in the microwave for a few minutes. The best thing about this is you don’t use raw eggs, so you can eat it raw. You can also make various desserts in a mug ranging from chocolate cake, chocolate chip cookie dough, or even a snickerdoodle in a cup. We attempted to make a chocolate mug cake by using a recipe from AllRecipes but adding chocolate chips to make it even better. The mug cake only took us approximately 10 minutes to make, and it hit the spot! Detwiler commented, “Mm… it tastes like a moist brownie, which is good!” We would recommend this to a beginner baker who wants to get used to the kitchen.

While you are recovering, you may want to try some healthy recipes, and this is where oats come in. Oats aren’t just used for oatmeal and smoothies but are common in baked goods. Oatmeal cookies are the most known, but a personal favorite is chocolate oat cake. It is an easy recipe where you mix oats, cocoa powder, baking soda, and milk and bake it in the oven for 20 minutes. It is simple and easy to make and very beneficial for your body. Baking is a great hobby to pick up while you recover because of the mental benefits and all the baked goods you get to eat as you grow! Some great websites to try recipes from are AllRecipes, Sally’s Baking Addiction, Inspired Taste, etc. Baking allows you to have a creative board to have fun and get a break from reality while you rest and recover.

Sources:
https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/241038/microwave-chocolate-mug-cake/
https://www.inspiredtaste.net/
https://www.pushdoctor.co.uk/what-we-treat/mental-health/articles/just-dough-it-7-reasons-why-baking-is-great-for-your-mental-health
https://thrive.kaiserpermanente.org/thrive-together/live-well/ways-baking-can-help-support-mental-health#:~:text=%E2%80%9CWhen%20you%20focus%20your%20attention,good%20for%20our%20mental%20health.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/feeling-down-scientists-say-cooking-and-baking-may-help-you-feel-better-180961223/