This Year's Model of Humanity

In the wake of quitting caffeine, I have decided that I can do anything.

So, I've decided to become a vegetarian (I'm wobbly on the idea of being a vegan -- I suspect that I shall become a vegetarian first and then decide on veganism). I haven't had any meat for a couple of weeks and I've been trying all sorts of things. Plus, eating food that I do like that I haven't had in a while (it had been amazing long since I'd had an apple, you don't even want to know). I've already started to adjust to the taste of soymilk.

I miss meat. I love the taste of meat -- barbecued ribs, tender chicken, juicy steaks. Love it all. But I don't love how it gets from the animal to my plate, and I don't love killing things merely to suit my stomach. I never seriously thought about quitting before; it just wasn't something that I could quite wrap my head around. That's starting to change. I want my behavior to match my highest idea of myself. And in my highest idea of myself, I don't want to eat dead animals when I can get what I need from somewhere else.

And by choosing not to eat meat, I feel... a freedom that I wasn't feeling when I was just eating whatever I happened to like. This is a choice, this is my brain and my morals deciding, not my body. And yet, it isn't choosing against my bodily desires, either. I like eating corn and broccoli and apples and pears and cucumbers and, well, we'll put an 'etc.' here. I like all those things.

For me, this was the right time to make a change.