These chocolate peanut butter protein bars help you spend less while keeping those familiar 3 p.m. hunger pangs in check—and honestly, is there any pairing that beats chocolate and peanut butter? (The answer is no.)

Besides the bangin’ vegan protein bar recipe, if you can take anything away from this posts today it should be “dust yo self off and try again.” Who would have thought this 2001 R&B jam by Aaliyah would impart such a valuable lesson. But she’s 100% right. Whether it’s a romantic, athletic, scholarly, creative or really any kind of pursuit, chances are you won’t knock it out of the park the first time. Not only that but it’s probably a good thing you fail the first time.

Let’s be real here, I’m not a patient person. I was raised by one, I’m sisters with one, so I know what it looks like. I’m not it. I want what I want when I want it and it’s probably yesterday. When I’m learning something new I expect to be the best before I start. Clearly, I’m also super realistic *insert sarcastic face.* Overtime though, I’ve learned that the good ish takes some time and a lot of trial and error whether I like it or not.

The most recent example is actually this recipe, both the final recipe and the pictures. The first time I made it I thought “hot damn it’s a winner” and I wanted to shoot it right then and there. However, the sun had different plans. I rushed through trying to make it work but every photo came out yellow, the styling just wasn’t there and I wasn’t excited to share the post.

Part of me was mad that I wasted several hours on something unusable but I knew I couldn’t share those pictures with enthusiasm. So I waited a week until I had another day to shoot and luckily lighting was on my side. Not only that but I tweaked the recipe slightly and it was even better the second time.

Now I’m super pumped to share these bars because they look as good as they taste (actually they still probably taste 10x better because that’s how good they are) but you get the point.

Blogging is a process. It’s a flop-win-flop-flop-win-flop-win-win-flop-flop-flop-win kinda dance. I’m getting better at letting the flops happen and letting myself justify that time as “learning” vs. wasted. I’ve also realized the more I “learn” the better I get.

So thank you Aaliyah for teaching me in 2001 what I’m slowly beginning to grasp today, I’ll brush myself off and try again.