One of my weaknesses is being impetuous. I’ve heard it time and time again. “Aethne, you’re so impetuous!” In other words, I can be impulsive and jump into things without much thought.
I don’t know if that moment on the sidewalk was truly impulsiveness. Vegetarianism was something I wanted to try. It seemed a relatively trendy thing to do. Anyways, my vegetarian lifestyle didn’t last long. I can’t remember how long it lasted, but I’d guess a couple of weeks. To my friend’s credit, she lasted much longer.
Since then, I’ve dabbled halfheartedly in vegetarianism. (The friend I wrote of above has since become vegan.) There was a point, though, that I’d always end up failing. Now I read the word failing and think it sounds a little ridiculous.
I can’t remember who first introduced me to the world flexitarian, but hearing it was as though a light bulb had gone off in my brain - in a cartoon sort of way.
It made complete sense. I don’t eat chips everyday or even once a month, but I’ve never said, “I’m never going to eat chips again.” That would be a recipe for disaster. The next time I went grocery shopping I’d probably get to the cash with $80 worth of chips.
So back to flexitarian: My diet resembles that of a vegetarian, but I occasionally break the shackles and enjoy a burger. It’s difficult to fail when things are so flexible, and it probably sounds odd, but the more flexibility I think I have, the less inclined I’ll be to run to the closest burger-selling joint.
I began thinking about this today for a few reasons. First, I wrote a story about Open Farm Day. Although the farms here aren’t cattle farms, it still got me thinking about farming and the meat industry and all that.
Then there’s the fact I cook pretty regularly. I’m conscious of what I eat and try to be pretty healthy. Living in a rural area makes finding all the vegetarian items a little more challenging.
So my flexitarian diet doesn’t turn into a college diet of peanut butter and cheese for protein, I try to be creative and have a decent repertoire of meals. Having fewer items in the store means being flexible and stretching my imagination beyond the pages of my basic vegetarian cookbook.
This is all to say a little bit of flexitarianism goes a long way.
