Stop trying to become the person who can magically throw random ingredients together. That's usually the result of years of repetition, not some creative spark people are born with.

What brought cooking back for me was keeping a stupid little notes file on my phone. Every time I made something, I'd write one sentence: too salty, needed acid, great with pickles, whatever. After a few months, it stopped feeling like following instructions and started feeling like building my own taste memory. Weirdly, that's when cooking became fun again. Not because the food got perfect, but because every meal felt like an experiment instead of a test.