14 October 2013

My relationship promise

I've been single for... numerous years now since my last proper relationship, and as much as I hate to admit it, and as much as I try to rebel against it... it does get to me quite at bit at times. I am not in so deep to say that "I can't truly enjoy my life until I am in a relationship", not at all, my life is actually way exciting and enjoyable, but I guess I could define it as... "it would be quite nice to have someone to share it with"...

Yes, I think that sums it up nicely.

There are times where I'll see another couple when I am out, perhaps at the supermarket, or at the park, and I'd think to myself "man... if I had a girl, I'd definitely like to surprise her by paying for her groceries, or organizing a surprise picnic" or something to that affect. Basically, I know that if I ever do get lucky enough to be in a good relationship, that I'd try to be the most thoughtful, surprising, generous partner that I could be. Partly to show how much I appreciate them, and partly because I truly enjoy seeing the joy on their faces.

(Sounds cheezy I know, but I swear I am legit...)

However... a thought occurred to me: perhaps many of these other people whom are currently in a relationship also promised similiar things before they were in a relationship, and after months, or years, of being in one, they have kind of forgotten about such a promise, and have let things lapse?

In other words: You start a relationship full of thoughfullness and effort, but over the months or years, the thoughtfullness and effort starts to dwindle off a little as you fall into a bit of a routine with your partner.

With all this in mind, I wanted to write down some 'promises' that I can look back on from time to time in the future, to remind myself to do all these things to make them feel... as appreciateded as I am sure they are meant to be.

I promise to:
- Make her breakfast in bed, just for the fun of it
- Send random flowers/chocolates/presents
- Support her with her dreams/passions/ideas
- Send her random texts just to say that I am thinking about her
- Tickle her
- Think of super awesome, unexpected gifts for her birthday

And most of all, I want to:
- Take her to my favourite spot in the hills near my home town for a picnic, where you can see the city down below
- Travel with her!
- Make her laugh, all the time, sometimes just because I am bored and want to hear her laugh
- Hugs. Early in the morning, late at night, when she is looking completely the other way
- Take her to my favourite restaurants (there are a lot of them)
- Cheer her up on her tough days
- Introduce her to my best mates in the world (and know that they'll love her, and she'll love them in return)
- Be introduced to her world of interests, hobbies, and events
- To make her smile... just to improve her life in the smallest of ways

And probably many more. I never want to take someone special for granted... for I know how bad it can be at times before they arrived.

This is my promise.

05 October 2013

Me, the Vegetarian...ish

As of August 13th, I have started taking my first steps to become a semi-vegetarian... yay?

I say 'semi' because I don't think I can entirely cut out meat, as some white meat in your diet (chicken, turkey) I think will be quite beneficial to me still (I am quite slim), as are the oils from fish, so I think I will still stick with those for the time being. But I do at least vow to attempt to cut out red meat entirely, and drastically cut back on my intake of dairy as well.

It's been nearly 2 months now actually, and I have had practically no red meat at all. My only lapses have been for a few chicken parmigiana meals that had ham on them, and one time I was given a free pizza that had meat on it, but I certainly wasn't going to throw away perfectly good food. Other than that, it has been 2 months without steaks, lamb, cheese burgers... any red meat really :D

So, why the choice?

I have always been very into nutrition and healthy eating, and lately I've been doing a lot of reading, and watched a few great documentaries, and have found that there is evidence to support a correlation between the consumption of red meats and certain diseases. This is particularly apparent when you look at a Western diet, and then the amount of deaths each year from diseases such as diabetes, prostate cancer, health diseases, colon cancer (and so on) in the Western world, compared to that of an Eastern diet and the rates of deaths from similar diseases in the Eastern world.

The amount of deaths in the Western world for certain diseases far outweight any from a less red meat based diet.

Now, I am by no means saying that the evidence is 'fact'... I am merely saying that there is a suggestion of sorts. Regardless, health is only one reason for this choice. The second reason relates to the environment, and the third relates to the treatment of agricultural animals (cows especially), with these two reasons being of my primary concern.

For instance; it takes approximately 10 times the fossil fuels to produce a tonne of red meat than it does to produce plant based food, livestock is a major contributor to the amount of greenhouse damaging gases released every year, and to raise them all takes huge expanses of land as well. I am quite fond of the environment... I would like my future kids to have the chance to be fond of it also.

And the treatment of animals argument? Well... it isn't to much of a secret on how poorly they are kept. Sigh.

Anyways, it isn't hurting anyone by me making a choice like this, so it is a win-win all round! Eventually I hope to cut out pretty much all meat, but it will be a slow process while I prepare myself with the knowledge to still have a nutritious diet. Meat does have a lot of great nutrients for you, and while you can get everything you need from a plant-based diet, it can be dangerous to attempt if you don't do it correctly.

Two great documentaries I've watched recently, if anyone was interested, were:
- Forks over Knives
- King Corn

Are any of my readers vegetarian? I've love to hear on how you got started, and of any tips that are worth sharing too.