Dust your canvas with flour, the right measurements, and the right place. A hint of vanilla doesn’t even get us started with the glaze.
The sweetest things in life are often in-the-face and concise. The timer dings and you’re all set. And before you know it, you’re digging into your cake.
A recipe worth the painstaking dedication and sacrifice makes the process worthwhile.
If only dedication and sacrifice were as sweet in every facet of life. But the reality in its bitterness sheds its message clear as crystal as we walk towards our goals and aspirations.
As Buddhism teaches us, life is suffering and certainly not a Cakewalk.
Every so often comes a piece of writing, a hint, or an idea that raises a voice, asking all the right questions and doing it in the most subtle, graceful ways.
Author Douglas Bell invites you to a stroll alongside our protagonist, a man who wishes life was a piece of cake.
The highly anticipated book is set to break the norms of conventional thought and execute it in the most delicate of ways.
But what is Cakewalk, and what is the book’s ethos?
Let’s find out.
Meet Bryan, a name you’ll be getting very familiar with.
And rightfully so. Following a massive promotion, Bryan is the talk of the town. If “town” means his mother and her girlfriends. Amongst the ladies, Bryan has earned a modicum of respect, having given his due diligence.
Well, we may have “dressed” the story a little.
Behind the deceiving layer of conformity lies a man giving his true self a chance.
It’s ironic how the world applauded Bryan for their definition of success and would do quite the opposite if Bryan openly embraced his true self.
Bryan has met his match in Nadia, a transgender woman. Who… also happens to be of white ethnicity.
Living in conservative Texas, one may say that a little spice was added to the cake.
The question remains, will Bryan be able to come out and embrace his true self? Cakewalk’s premise is complex and provocative.
What’s the recipe?
The Author’s Notes
According to Douglas Bell, conformity is not necessarily all bad. The key is to keep a balance. He shares his spiritual take on conformity.
Society controls its citizens like pawns through the power of conformity. It is a force that hinders your creativity and reforms mental constructs that, frankly, are not real or tangible.
He emphasizes that freedom awaits when we break free from these labels that bind us.
Douglas is a firm believer in religion and thinks a spiritual practice can ground you and keep you together when the world decides to leave you astray, at the mercy of society.
Deliverance lies in persistence, where impermanence is inevitable.
We see this struggle to be persistent in the face of conformity in Bryan’s character. Someone Douglas confides traces of himself in.
He shares his inability to tell the world that he loved someone indifferently, honestly. A notion fueled with toxic masculinity and expectation from family.
We all have either experienced or heard of someone going through the same. The helplessness conjoined with the dreadful feeling of being judged by your peers for opening your heart to someone.
What’s more painful is to think about it from your partner’s perspective.
This makes Cakewalk a work of fiction that embodies the scary facts in which this world has been set.
Fighting for love in the face of conformity
As established, a significant theme in the book is Bryan’s struggle to come out about his closeted relationship with Nadia.
Douglas’ view on the narrative makes the tale an even more compelling read than it already is. He describes finding love as a journey to find yourself. You’ve often heard the saying that the right person will bring out the best in you.
In this context, best merely means being the most ‘You’ you can be. He encourages people not to give up on what they believe in, even though this may be the hardest part.
As the great Maya Angelou said, “Never make someone a priority when all you are is an option to them.”
You must make the right choices and find someone worth walking the walk for.
Not giving up on love requires courage. It requires you not to give in to the lesser, weaker version of yourself.
You have one life, one walk…
Why not spend it with someone who can make you feel the best? The most yourself?
A cakewalk may be farfetched, but spending it with someone you truly love can make it a walk to remember. To learn more about Bryan’s endeavors and plight to find himself, get your hands on Douglas Bell’s Cakewalk today!
