Sunday, February 20, 2011

Damn you, McDonalds!

This blog is meant mainly to help me work through whatever changes will come into my life because of my choice to live a yoga lifestyle. And change isn't always graceful or easy. Therefore, I am not always proud of the things I struggle with. But I'm going to document them anyways, in hopes of one day looking back to see how far I have come. 

Yesterday, I heard a radio commercial for a Shamrock Shake at McDonalds. You know, the green minty ice cream shake McDonald's sells around St Patrick's Day each year? I allow myself one every year and I look forward to it. I LOVE those horrible-for-you, sugar-and-dairy-abound silly things. 

Well, it got me thinking at how anti-vegan I would be going out of my way to order one. And I started to get mad. Mad that there are millions of people in the world who will be ordering them these next few weeks. Mad that my beliefs are going to either leave me feeling unsatisfied (if I don't get one) or guilty (if I do). Mad that I have this internal struggle going on when so many people don't think twice about the suffering of the animals behind their favorite snacks. Why do I have this huge weight on my shoulders when others just eat animal products without a care in the world?

I know it is selfish. And like I said, I'm not proud of these moments. But it almost makes me feel like "what's the point?" One person (me) is not going to make a difference in the food-animal industry, so why am I giving up things I look forward to and adore? Sure, I don't want to partake in the suffering of animals. But if I don't buy that shake someone else will. It makes this whole vegan effort seem futile. 

Not sure yet on what will play out with the To-Buy-Or-Not-To-Buy conundrum but I'll keep you posted. To be continued...

2 comments:

  1. Hmmm, my first instinct is to laugh and tell you how little actual dairy is in these shakes. They're mostly chemicals anyway.

    On a serious note, when I go through a cleanse or even a diet, I find it helpful to stay in the moment. Rather than thinking, I can never have this again, try thinking, I'm choosing not to have this now. In the West, vegatarinaism usually stems from the yogic practice of ahimsa, non-violence. In India they focus on brahmacharya or purity. I like that because it lessens the abstraction for me.

    Good luck. If you want to bounce any ideas off of me, I'm happy to. I've been a yoga instructor for over a decade. My website is mamaguru.com. Namaste.

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  2. Thank you so much!!! I think you're right and taking away the finality of it all - just making a choice for right now and not 70 years from now - is probably going to help me a lot.

    I can't wait to go peruse your website and see what other tidbits I can learn. Thanks!

    Jenn

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