For the past few years, after the New Year, I used to stop eating meat for 6 months
Being more mindfully focused on new experiences helps me have this feeling on a daily basis now.
Thinking back, I can see how it connected to how I felt relocating to the south and the search for rekindling the vibe of renewing the energy around me.
Here’s some parallels:
Lightening Up
Vegetarian: After a holiday full of eating traditional comfort food, energy levels are low. Eating lighter feels better.
Relocating: It’s a heavy and energy draining feeling moving from your current environment to somewhere new.
Expansion
Vegetarian: Normal “go to” dishes aren’t the default which expands the palette.
Relocating: The network of people you interact with expands while trying to get comfortable in the new area
Takes Time
Vegetarian: Ignoring those annoying urges to eat meat lasts a few weeks.
Relocating: Creating a new norm in the new space takes a few weeks or longer if the urge to try and keep things the same as before takes over.
Increased Self Awareness
Vegetarian: Opportunity to find more foods that you like or dislike. Being on auto pilot and not paying attention to the moments food choice is not an option.
Relocating: Discover new things about your personality by paying attention to how you adapt to a new culture.
Lessons learned:
Setting goals each year is a great starting point for digging deeper into the feelings that you need to incorporate into your life permanently. You should feel whole at all time; do what you need to do to make that happen. If you need to start slow – pay attention to your compass (your feelings) and move towards what fills that gap for you.
