May is done, June has come, the challenges continue

May was the most challenging month so far.

Meatless May just about killed me.

And not because I missed meat… it was because I was forced to think about what I was eating in a way I hadn’t before. That, and increasing my fiber made me really, really gassy (TMI?). Also, I would get hungry at strange times, because I hadn’t had enough of something when I ate, and I didn’t know what I could eat to satiate that hunger. I mean, I really really had to think about what I was eating.

And, I really missed cheese.

Being vegan this month stretched me in ways I hadn’t wanted to be stretched.

Y’all, I literally ate nothing but chicken breasts and salads since the pandemic began, and suddenly one of my two staples was off the menu. So, I had to find different staples.

Beans, tofu, jackfruit, baby spinach, apples, beans, sugarpeas, bananas, lots of nuts, all prepared in strange ways to make them satisfying, it has been a long, strange journey.

I don’t even remember what the other challenges I had thought I would try to accomplish this month, the vegan thing taking over my life. I did take a few one second videos to continue that gig, but what else had I planned? I don’t even know.

But you want to know the really crazy thing? The crazy thing is that I’m going to keep going with the vegan lifestyle. And here’s why. Everything I’ve read about how miserable you feel when you start veganism says that you have to give it time, and eventually you start to feel great. So, I want to give it a chance. I’ve felt miserable this month, and that doesn’t seem fair. I want to feel great. Especially since for the next month or so I’m living in hippy-dippy Asheville, where you’d think being vegan was easy, and in a month I’m moving to Montenegro where I’ve been told being vegan is more of a challenge. So, I’m going to enjoy being vegan where it’s easier, and I’m going to steel myself for where it’s going to be harder.

And maybe somewhere along the way I’ll start to reap the benefits. Here’s hoping!

So, Meatless May is going to turn into Just-Plant-June or something.

Also, this month I cut out the two biggest thieves of joy in my life… Facebook and Twitter. That has been such a great idea. I had no idea how much energy I’d given to these two spawns of Satan, but I haven’t missed them a bit. So, I think I might extend that into June as well.

Seriously. Facebook and Twitter are really, really harmful.

What else will I be doing/not doing in June?

One thing that has fallen to the wayside this month is exercise. I did so well in March, walking for nearly 100 miles, but in April and May, not so much. So, I want to bring back the 100 miles in a month challenge for June.

Also, my creativity hasn’t gotten as much attention. I did well with the one-second-a-day video project, but I want to do more. So, I’m going to try and push myself to write more this month. More specifically, I’m going to try and write a 100 word story every other day. That means that I’ll hopefully have 15 new short stories by the end of the month.

By the way, it’s crazy that at the end of this month I’ll be living in Montenegro. That’s like, mind-bending insane. I didn’t even know what Montenegro was a year ago.

So, that’s a wrap on May, and a start on June. And life continues, for most of us.

Onward, y’all!

Nate