I discovered the sweetness of onions about the same time I first got my heart broken.
I'd moved out of home into my own apartment when I was 18 and fallen in love.
The hurt came about the same time I realised I wanted MORE from my kitchen than sandwiches and bland meat.
Back then, cooking shows weren't really a "thing", so I must've caught an episode of breakfast TV where a chef sliced and diced an onion, then slowly sauteed it in butter or oil (I forget which) until it caramelised and became sweet on the tongue.
Whaaaaat? Until that day I thought onions made you cry and gave a little savoury tang to an otherwise dull green salad - I didn't know they could be sweet too - so deliciously sweet you can scoop them on to a spoon and eat them just like that!
We, like onions - cry like a bastard the first time we're cut.
Then like onions, we have life cruelly peel our layers away and tossed aside, no longer of use - and we're chopped into tiny pieces... and the flung into the flames.
Mostly when we talk of surviving trauma or difficult situations, we say that it strengthens us - but in the curious case of onions - they don't become physically stronger, or even taste stronger - they become simply BETTER!
But instead of ruining us, raining tears and destroying what we once were - this "cruel" process is in fact the making OF us.
Through every torturous period, we become stronger - and sweeter. Better. No longer just an air-tight impenetrable bulb - we become the base element for everything.
Feeding the soul and the belly.
Through these trials and tribulations - and yeh... a lot of trials - you gain an inner strength which aids your growth as an online entrepreneur.
I'm sure many of us wish we had the energy of youth - but it's our wisdom, compassion - and buttery sweetness that makes us irresistible!
So the next time someone tries to tell you that you're nothing special - then you need to shout back:
YES I AM! I'M A FUCKING ONION!