Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Accidental Stumbles....

So today I had an accidental non-vegan moment.  I didn't go grocery shopping again yesterday, due to time constraints and my paranoid yet healthy fear of going to stores by myself at night.  So I left for work with the same dilemma of nothing on hand to eat for lunch.  At school we offer garden wraps and veggie burgers every day for the vegetarian kiddos, so I decided to try a burger.  Unbeknownst to me, it contained dairy products.  But I'm choosing to look at this positively.  If I beat myself up over innocent mistakes I will subconsciously be teaching myself to fail all of the time- and it's okay to stumble every once in awhile.  The most important thing is that I'm trying. I was reading a book last night that I had on a shelf collecting dust from college days, and it gave some really good insight on how to overcome the general worry that new vegans have about making mistakes, telling others about their new lifestyle, etc.  It's called: "Being Vegan: Living with Conscience, Conviction, and Compassion" by Joanne Stepaniak. I needed the advice today, not only to combat the veggie burger issue, but also to deal with the questions I am getting from coworkers and friends about my new vegan philosophy.  Not everybody has been supportive.  For many reasons, vegan-ism is questionable for some people- they don't understand why people would live this way, and they struggle with accepting it. They believe that in my crusade to "save the planet," I'm being judgmental of them, which isn't the case.  Then there are those who have educated themselves about the cause, and have no problem telling me why I'm wrong and why they're right- even when their opinion has been unsolicited. In today's instance, I was innocently fixing to take a large and rather unladylike bite of my food, when suddenly a state of war was declared. My first instinct was to say- "Will you just let me eat, please? I know you don't see a dead cow or a hunk of cheese on my plate and it upsets you, but my stomach is growling and I would like to enjoy my meal, K?" But I held myself in check.  I ate my damn burger and with a good-natured smile told them to mind their own business.  That seemed to do the trick. My only goal right now is to help myself understand this new road I'm on- not to create enemies. Soon I will hopefully be at a place where explaining my lifestyle is easy, and less threatening to the non-vegans of the world.

Dinner tonight is brown rice with cabbage sauteed with onion, black pepper, garlic, coriander, thyme, and cinnamon.  Simple yet satisfying, and definitely vegan. :) Have a good night.

2 comments:

  1. That's gonna happen....can i borrow that book from you when you aren't reading it?

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  2. For all the negativity I encountered yesterday, I was rewarded with lots of positive questions today. Sadly, I feel like people my age are a lot more open to the idea and less likely to pre-judge. Some of the older folks out there are too set in their ways! :) The books will be in your hands next time I see you!

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