Tuesday, September 23, 2008

The spirit is willing, but the mouth is weak

I really wish I could go back to being a vegetarian. Back in 2002, I decided to stop eating meat. Unfortunately, the decision was made before I went to the National Planning Conference in Chicago that year. The first place we ate lunch was that place that they used to spoof on Saturday Night Live-- "cheeseburger, cheeseburger"-- what was the name of that place? Anyway, to order anything but a hamburger or cheeseburger in that place was asking for trouble. I became a vegetarian the next day. I actually kept up with it in full force for a year. I lost 20 pounds without doing anything else. It was great. It was not easy though. Eating out was tough. Most places had only one veggie option and it was a salad or a cheese sandwich. You get tired of those after a while, especially if you don't like iceberg lettuce in the first place. So, every now and then, I would have to go ahead and consume animal flesh. Then, those occasions got closer and closer together. It was easier to just order a turkey sandwich and be done with it. When visiting relatives, it was just easier to eat whatever they were serving than to be a pain in the butt asking for different food. Then, I got married. Then, we went to Poland. I don't think there are any vegetarians there. Plus, I did not know the word for "vegetables" or "vegetarian" in Polish anyway. It pretty much unraveled from there.

But now, I am trying to get the magic back. We do pretty well here at home, but eating out is still a challenge. I just have to remember how good I felt during that year. It was interesting though, how much opposition I ran into during that time. I stopped eating meat for me and for no other reason. I never told anyone else that they should do the same thing but I was happy to talk about it with them if they wanted. I let the results speak for themselves. There were no lectures, no self-righteousness, no judgment. But, I got a lot of it in return. So many people tried to convince me that I was the one doing the wrong thing. Sometimes though, you just have to listen to your own voice. Hopefully, I can do it again.