Journey To The Isle of Vegan

I think I talked about it before, but I decided it is time to make a serious change to my diet and my life. I have toyed with the idea of becoming a vegan. I am not sure how this journey will unfold but I am beginning today.

Now, I don't want to be impulsive, setting myself up for failure and giving up so I want to approach this with a more light-hearted joyful spirit! I love eggs, fish, chicken and seafood so this will be a challenge. So I am going to go slowly eating as vegan as possible and go as long as possible. If I have a slip of fish or fowl, I won't stop but just give myself a break and get back on the vegan horse and keep riding.

My first task I suppose is to stock up on fruits, vegetables and figure out how to make delicious tofu dishes. Tofu has always been my stumbling block. After a while I just can't stand it. Hmm... there has to be a way around this. I think I will rely heavily on juicing which I love when I actually do it. 

My biggest challenge will be the social pressure. Generally speaking most of my friends are not tremendously supportive with my positive changes as it tends more to trigger reactions as I am attempting to change behavior I previously did with them without question. However as with smoking, my choices must be made and enforced by me and not my friends. Truth be told, I enjoyed a wonderful  smokefree time at home with my family for the holidays but when I came back it was too easy to fall back into smoking with friends who smoke rather than give up spending time with my smoking friends or struggle with hanging out with my chain-smoking friends and not smoke. That however, must change.

Hopefully the change in diet will assist me in getting back to being smoke-free as well. I need these two things to work hand in hand. Actually I have a lot of life changes to implement in 2010. My approach is to go slow and build upon each success so they compliment one another rather than work against my overall goals.

If I look honestly at my life I have to say this has to be the year I put myself first. Often, I put my friends' needs before my own. This has only led to me falling short on my own life goals out of some fear, I guess, that I will discover that the friendships I had really were not sustainable once I started charting my own life course in a new direction. Well, it is time to face those fears head on. I want certain things for myself and that means making sacrifices and removing obstacles. However, again my life is about me and my own choices. If I don't have the strength to stand up for what I want there is no one else who is going to do it for me. Whatever "friends" if any, I lose on this journey will be people who weren't truly "friends" in the first place.  

So, as I walk upon the shores of the Isle of Vegan, I must find the Temple of Healthy Eating, start my training and learn as much as I can to sustain and strengthen me for what lies ahead in 2010.  I know there is magic on this Isle and I am determined master all the Isle has to teach me.