03-10-2010, 07:57 PM
(03-09-2010, 06:29 PM)ahktu Wrote: Has anyone else experienced stuff like this?
Hi ahktu, and welcome to the veggie club! As far as a sudden shift to vegetarianism goes, I too have experienced this phenomenon as others have commented in this thread.
I have lived on my own since the age of 14 and even before that never had any parental insistence on meat eating, but it was some years before I made the switch. I always felt vaguely uncomfortable about it even when eating meat that tasted good to me at the time. From before I can remember, I felt that I "SHOULD" be vegetarian but I was afraid of missing out on food I liked and that I wouldn't be able to handle it. Finally, about 11 years ago I decided that I was going to try to be vegetarian for a week and then see how I felt about it at the end of the week. No commitment beyond 7 days and no pressure. I planned out each meal for each day in advance to make sure I could do it.
Guess what? After 48 hours, I knew deep down I would be a vegetarian for the rest of my life. It wasn't difficult, it wasn't stressful and it made me deeply happy. I never ate another bite of meat intentionally after that time. 11 years have flown by!
At the time, I was living with a girl who was to later become my wife and I was not going to impose my habits on her. I planned to cook 2 meals instead of 1 each evening and resigned to having to stock more food than usual.
Obviously, I explained my reasoning to her but wasn't "preachy" about it. She agreed to be supportive but continue to eat meat herself. Amazingly, three days later she came to me crying and said "I just can't do it anymore!" and she became a vegetarian herself! Instantly!!
Even stranger, a month later I was talking to my sister about it and she informed me that she'd decided to become a vegetarian herself soon after hearing about me and in fact had already done so for a week!
All three of us have been vegetarians ever since! My sister later had two children who have only been vegetarians their whole lives. One is 9 and the other is 6 with no problems.
So, yes it can happen suddenly. It was a bit weird to me to have 3 people switch so suddenly all in the same timeframe, but after reading some of the comments here and especially your own story, I guess it's not that unusual at all!!
I don't want to get too long-winded here so I will just mention one, but there are some practical considerations to being a new vegetarian to consider. The most important, to me, is to not make other people feel guilty who have not made the same choice, intentionally or unintentionally. A lot of people get very defensive about the subject and I believe it is best to be a nonchalant vegetarian who thinks "I worry about my lunch and you worry about your own." It is important to remember that in 3rd density experience there is no way to avoid taking life in some form or another as we go through life, both for food and in other areas as well. It is part of the human condition and more catalyst for our growth. While I have extremely, extremely strong views on the "correctness" of vegetarianism for me (and in general), I also believe that all of our paths are different and what may be right for me may not be right for you. The only advice I ever give a meat eater who is not contemplating vegetarianism but is acting guilty is this: "Eat whatever you like, but send a small prayer of thanks and gratitude to the animals that sacrificed so that you could live. Instead of ignoring the death or feeling guilty about it, simply eat with an attitude of humble gratitude, ever thankful for the blessing those younger brothers and sisters who have died so that you may live have given you.
Love to all
P.S. Monica -- I know that feeling you described so well!! Meat doesn't look like food to me anymore. I can scan a buffet table and it just looks like a bunch of blocks around the "real food." Very strange phenomenon, indeed.