Street Food vs. My Family

On the eve of my next book release, Sober Is Better: My Note to Self, I’ve been reflecting on how hard we all work, and the various paths we take to find meaning in that work. This weekend, I watched the Netflix show Street Food and couldn’t help but compare the chefs’ stories and my own experiences growing up on a farm. In the book, I talk a lot about my upbringing—how my family worked tirelessly on the farm and juggled other jobs to keep the business running. I recall both the right and the wrong things from that time, but it’s all woven around a central theme: how much and how hard my family worked.

Street Food is a fascinating show that highlights the personal, cultural, and culinary journeys of street food chefs and their families. What stood out to me was how many of them didn’t start with a passion for what they were doing. For many of them, cooking street food was simply all they knew—it was the only option they saw. But their love for the work grew over time, often transforming into something they truly cherished. It made me reflect on the journey many of us take in life. Usually, we make numerous turns, trying different things, hoping to find something we can love—a calling, a purpose in what we do.

In Sober Is Better, I share my journey through multiple addictions—a path that required immense hard work and commitment to overcome. It wasn’t a path I consciously chose, but through recovery, it became the best life I could live. Watching the street food purveyors find fulfillment in their work, I saw parallels to my own story. Like my family, these chefs found joy and purpose in their calling, even though it didn’t start that way. I'm not entirely sure whether my recovery was a God-thing or driven by a higher power, but I do know that I feel more connected to my spirit now than ever before.

Ultimately, we all can find what matters to us. Whether through a passion discovered later in life or a calling, we’ve always known that the effort we put into our work shapes who we are. You matter, so find what matters to you and work towards it with all your heart.

-Bryan