Bend but don't break

Oh the holiday season.  It's a really bad time to start a new plan for your life.  I think that may be part of the reason that we have New Year's resolutions instead of Christmas resolutions.  You aren't going to start a new way of life when there are tons of festivities, parties, etc to attend.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately.  Because I'm just beginning this path toward being vegetarian, vegan, raw, whatever it ends up being, I'm not prepared to make special requests or expect accommodations on my behalf.  I have 3 parties coming up in the next week alone and had a fancy pants lunch meeting with the head honchos of our company earlier this week.  When I arrived at the restaurant, I searched the menu only to find that the side order of rice was the only vegetarian option on the entire menu.  Fish was my closest approximation, so I had that.  And the rice.

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I kept my motto of being kind to myself in mind as the meal was served.  Tonight the quote "bend but don't break" popped into my head.  That's exactly it.  If you're too rigid when you're just learning a new lifestyle, I think you're setting yourself up to break.  I know that would be the case for myself at least.  I can be a perfectionist and a control freak at times, so if I set the bar too high, I will break my neck to achieve it.  If you ease into it, you're more flexible.  When something throws you off course, and you can bend with it instead.

So this holiday season, I'm setting my goals for myself, I'm striving for better health as always, but I will bend as needed.  If you think about a tree limb, it's the strongest ones that are capable of bending instead of breaking.   I will be strong enough to bend, not break.

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Any suggestions from the veterans of a vegetarian/vegan/raw lifestyle?