Being Cheryl: Columbus Social Media and Random Humor

I just quoted a 3OH!3 song. Ew.

I’m a vegetarian. This information creates one of two responses from every person privy to it: “Good for you” or “What the hell is wrong with you?” And neither response is valid.

I became a vegetarian on January 1, 2010 after talking with my friend (and copywriter extraordinaire) Laura Rees and realizing that I was (at the time, anyway) getting married in 9 months on a beach in Hawaii and nowhere near target bikini weight. So, acknowledging I have 0 self control and thus if I left myself the option I might actually try a Double Down, I took meat off the table, literally.

This is where the “Good for you” camp of people make one of three inaccurate speculations. They assume that I gave up meat because a) I care about animals b) I care about the environment or C) I wanted to live a healthier lifestyle. As if.

Don’t get me wrong, It’s not that I don’t CARE about animals or the environment, it’s just that I care about them as much as you care about pollution and pet abuse and yet you still drive your car to work everyday and you don’t call the 1-800 number on your screen when that effing Sarah Mclachlan commercial comes on. It’s a passive kind of caring. I’m really glad that other people care. I just don’t care enough to care myself.

As for option c, the “live-a-healthier-lifestyle” assumption, well, I guess that was, in theory, the reason I stopped eating meat. However, I didn’t suddenly start eating salads and fruits and oatmeal, I just started eating a lot of grilled cheese and ranch dressing sandwiches.

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I also didn’t become a gym rat – I JOINED a gym, but I’ve been there 6 times in 2 months. And I CERTAINLY didn’t stop drinking – in fact, I’m about to launch a new video blog called Tappedin.TV centered around the love for craft beer, so if anything, I’m drinking more. And I still sneak the occasional cigarette at the bar, despite (ahem) previous statements, which also wasn’t a healthier-lifestyle decision.

As for the other camp of people, the “what the hell is wrong with you” folks – which, it turns out, comprises all of my relatives – well, the answer to that question is “a lot” but, none of which has anything to do with eating meat. Again, it’s not like I suddenly became a lettuce lover, despite QFM DJ Sue Leighton’s remarks and salad tossing (no, NOT that kind) in this video. There is a crapton of DELICOUS, meat-free food out there, healthy and not-so-much. I happen to prefer the not-so-much.

Will I go back to the carnivore lifestyle? Someday. It’s just that I don’t care enough to know when or why.

UPDATE: I quit being a vegetarian in August 2010. Oops.