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This is not the post I had planned

I was going to write about loving yourself where you are.

I even had it half typed out already.

But today, I got some news that rocked my world and now I have to write about it.

I’ve posted on my instagram before that I am in a sorority at my university, and right now, I’m the president.  It honestly sucks and I’m ready for my term to be over, but my sorority has given me some great things in the past few years.  The best of those is probably my daughter, (which is what we call our littles) Mackenzie.  Mackenzie is one of the most vibrant and positive people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting.  Her laugh could lift anyone’s spirits on any day.  She rarely has a negative thing to say about anyone, unless you piss her off, and she is passionate and compassionate.  If someone were to ask me to list the people who are most important to me in order, she would be very close to the top.

Today, Mackenzie was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

Today, I truly felt my heart drop into my stomach.

Today, I am heartbroken.

People my age aren’t supposed to get cancer, especially people like Mackenzie.  Why does she, of all people, have to go through something like this?  Why does her sweet, sweet family have to deal with the worry that will come over the next few months?  And selfishly, why did the one thing have to happen to her that I can neither stop nor control?  If you know me at all, you know that I have an incessant need to feel useful.  I need to feel as though I am contributing something at all times.  It’s selfish, I know, but what’s hurting me right now is knowing that she is hurting and there’s nothing I can do about it but be here.

So, I’ve decided to do everything that I can to help.  I’m coordinating a chapter care package to give to her before she goes home for the semester.  It will be filled with herbal teas, blankets, books, and a stuffed plush cow because I know they’re her favorite animal.  I’ve already started planning fundraisers to help her and her family out with the insane medical expenses that are coming their way.

If you guys know of any fundraiser ideas or have any tips of what to put in her care package, please please let me know.  Any and all help is appreciated.

[nocowswereharmed-blog]

I want to talk about compassion

The problem is that I don’t yet know what to say.

Compassion is a huge factor in two things I hold dear: Christianity and veganism.  I have grown up in the church and been a Christian for sixteen years, and though I have only been vegan for right about a month, I feel like my capacity for compassion has grown exponentially since then.

However, I am continuously appalled at the lack of compassion that some Christians seem to have for the world around them.  And I don’t say this to talk bad about the church.  (I literally just sat through a sermon about how this is immature of Christians to do, and I agree.)  But it’s something that needs to be addressed.  Jesus Christ was one of the most compassionate beings to ever walk the earth, and as Christians, we are supposed to mirror him.  Why, then, does the pro-life movement, which is traditionally backed by Christians, only apply to a fetus, and not the life that comes from it?  Why is it difficult for some Christians to put money in places other than their church?  Such as, perhaps paying more taxes so that someone else could have a better chance at life.

Again, this is just my musing on my own personal observations of [[[some of]]] the Christian faith.

In relation, one of the arguments that is often posed against veganism is the statement that God gave humans dominion over the earth, so of course we should eat animals and take advantage of all natural resources, renewable or otherwise ????  Right ????

My response to this is to look at the verse Galations 6:2 “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the laws of Christ” and also 1 Peter 4:10 “ As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace.”

I guess the Galations verse applies more to the healthcare/charitable donations part of my post, but the verse from 1 Peter definitely applies to God giving us dominion over the earth and what that means.

The gift that we have received is the gift of dominion.  How do we use it to serve one another?  By being responsible.  By being good stewards of all that we have dominion over.  Which I think we’re kind of failing at right now.

I might go more in-depth into this later, but this topic has been on my mind for a while, and I just had to write about it.  

Anyways, let’s go be good stewards.  Let’s have some compassion for everyone around us, and yes, this includes the poor, the animals, the earth, people from other places, people who speak another language, people who look different than us, people that aren’t the same religion as us, people who claim no religion, and on and on and on.

Get it?

[nocowswereharmed-blog]

do you ever have those random moments when you just realize how much you love something? whether it’s listening to your fav song or going back to a hobby you loved as a kid or when you get coffee and for some reason it’s just perfect that day and you’re reminded why you order that exact coffee everyday

[nocowswereharmed-blog]

Week One

I have officially passed the one week mark since I became a vegan.

It’s been a great week, but a tough week.

My week included a two-day road-trip to the Chicago area (which is around 8 hours from where I live) with my family, who are very not vegans.  This was also the weekend that I told my immediate family that I had decided to become a vegan.

I was honestly shocked at how supportive and respectful my family was in regards to my lifestyle change.  My dad, who is a meat and potatoes kind of guy, simply asked “why?”  I gave him my reasoning, he nodded his head, and said, “Okay.  You’re going to have to help us out with this because we don’t know anything about this, but we obviously still want you to come home and have meals with us.  But I support your decision.”  It was fantastic.  He even went through the drive-thru at Taco Bell during our road trip so I could get a bean burrito (without cheese) before we went to McDonalds, which is where he really wanted to go.  It just made me feel all warm and fuzzy.

He did give me a warning though.

The reason we were driving to the Chicago area for the weekend was for my cousin’s wedding.  A lot of my dad’s side of the family would be in attendance, and when I say that they are conservative, think hard right.  Like, as far right as one can get before getting into intentional racism, etc.  They would be there.

Anyway, my dad warned me not to share my new lifestyle with the family at the wedding, and to try to put it off for as long as possible.  To quote him directly, he said that “it would be like hyenas on an antelope.”

That scared me a little bit.

When we got to the wedding, I was immediately nervous about what was going to be served for dinner.  My aunt, who is the most conservative of the bunch, just happened to sit at the same table as me, so that made me even more nervous.  It was finally our turn to serve ourselves for dinner, and my stomach dropped when I saw the trays.  Creamy tuscan chicken, baked ziti smothered in cheese, corn drenched in butter, salad covered in cheese and bacon bits, green beans, and rolls.  Yikes.  The nice man that was serving in the line I was in was initially surprised when I just asked for two big scoops of green beans, but didn’t really much.  I also grabbed a few rolls because, you know.  Carbs.

I was relieved that my uber-conservative aunt sat at the opposite end of the table and couldn’t see my plate.  The only time I got close to having to reveal ~*my secret*~ was when one of my other aunts, who probably would have been cool with my veganism tbh, offered me one of the Oreo balls she had gotten, and almost didn’t take no for an answer.  We got through it, and everything was fine.

Phew.

Another cool development over the past week is that my sleep schedule ROCKS.  I’m typing this out at 9:33 PM and my eyes are so freaking droopy.  I’ve been going to bed regularly by 10:00 PM and I wake up at 5:30 AM.  That may seem early, but considering that I’ve had to be at work by 6:45 AM this week, it has been perfect.  I’ll probably keep these times as consistent as possible over the next few weeks so I have a healthy and established sleep schedule once classes start up again.

Sorry this post ended up being a novella, but I just wanted to write out an update.  I’m not an idiot, I know this blog has literally no followers, but I love having a place to jot down all of my random thoughts, and if someone reads them, great.  If not, that’s great, too.  I appreciate any and all eyes on these posts, and please don’t hesitate to scoot into my ask box if you ever have any questions for me.  I hope I am able to do the same.

Thank you and good night!!

- A 

[nocowswereharmed-blog]

A Big Change

So, I’m a vegan now.

I’ve been watching a lot of documentaries.

The one that really impacted me is called Cowspiracy and it’s on Netflix (in case anyone wants to watch it).  I don’t plan on explaining why I decided to become a vegan in this post, mainly because I don’t have to, but if you truly want to know, watch this film.  And yes, I did do research outside of the world of documentaries.

But anyway, we are coming to the close of day two as a vegan, and I feel really good.  I have a lot of energy and my stomach hasn’t hurt at all!!  It’s been amazing.  Since I took Monday off, I didn’t go to the gym, but I went yesterday and today, and even though it had been a while, I felt better today working out than I have in a while.

For breakfast, I made myself a green smoothie bowl topped with granola, bananas, strawberries, and chia seeds.  YUM.  For lunch yesterday, I had a small, leftover salad, carrots, and an apple.  I was hungry, like, five minutes later.  So, today, I had to step it up a notch.  I made chickpea, olive, avocado, and broccoli lettuce wraps, and wow it was good.  And filling, so that was nice.  And then for dinner both nights, I had homemade ramen noodles with kale and peanut butter.  Last night, I also roasted tomatoes and chickpeas, but I didn’t want to put that much effort in tonight.  It’s all good.

The good thing about being vegan is that I can drink all the coffee that my little sleepy heart desires.  

Did I mention that I feel really good?

Because I feel really good.

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Why I’m Here

Hello!  My name is Alyssa, and I am on a journey.

When I was in high school, I played year-round sports and was able to maintain a semi-healthy lifestyle.  However, outside of the daily practices, I didn’t develop many healthy habits so when I got to college, I gained a lot of weight.

Think Freshman Fifteen.

Then add at least twenty more pounds.

I have always struggled with body-image.  Always.  But since I’ve gained my recent forty-ish pounds, it’s only gotten worse.  I decided that I could either sit around and feel sorry for myself, or I could do something about it.

So here I am, doing something about it.

At around the age of fifteen, I discovered that I was lactose sensitive, so I started decreasing the amount of dairy that I took in daily.  As I’ve gotten older (I’m now 21), the sensitivity has developed into a full-blown intolerance.  I did a lot of research to make sure that I would be supplementing the right vitamins and nutrients now that I was cutting out dairy, and I made a pretty shocking discovery. 

Our bodies have zero need for dairy after about the age of three.  There’s a reason we are breast-fed, but once we are out of that stage of life, we don’t need milk anymore.  Isn’t it strange that we are the only mammals that drink the milk of other mammals?  Anyway, we don’t need milk but we are told very early on that we need milk to develop strong bones, blah blah blah.  So, I decided that not only am I going to give up dairy, but beef in all forms as well.  Stick it to the man, I guess.

So, yeah.  This blog is all about my journey to becoming healthy again.  I’m trying to focus on the “health” part of it all rather than losing weight, but I’m hoping it will be a great side effect.