Reflecting and Thinking Ahead

At first I was worried that my forgetful mind would just fail to remember that I was giving up meat so I decided to remove that potential barrier by having a reminder of it as the wallpaper on my phone. Thankfully it has worked so far! I haven’t forgotten yet. There are some barriers that you cannot just eliminate such as the smell of meat in the dining hall or the memory of its taste on your tongue. That all just comes down to willpower and self motivation.

How have been motivating myself to continue you ask? I think the benefits to this new diet for me has been mostly psychological. I feel good, not only because my carbon footprint has decreased, but also because I am not supporting the maltreatment of animals in the meat industry indirectly by consuming them. Not to mention that I feel healthier!

Having a group of people that know that I’m a vegetarian even though they aren’t surely has helped too. They serve as a reminder, but also make me feel like I am truly making a difference.

I’ve started thinking whether I would continue to not eat meat after my 5.5 weeks are up. I have decided that I will go back to eating meat, but this time I will be more conscious of what I put in my body. This means not eating as much of it as I used to and also being aware of where it is coming from. I am actually going to start applying this to all the food I eat, not only meat, from the fruit I have for breakfast to the string beans I have for dinner. I have always believed in moderation and I will try to find a sustainable balance of meat eating. Perhaps eating meat only two times a week will work.