My Blogging Goals

It's been several months and I've yet to post what I expect to get out of Being A Vegan Athlete. The idea first came to me when I was hiking in the spring this year. I tend to retract into my own little world when hiking or running. It really is the greatest form of meditation because your mind is able to focus and be creative while your body is deteriorating around you! I also find it hard to have negative thoughts while I'm running or hiking, or biking for that matter.

I was thinking, that day, how it would be a great idea to write a book after my 1 year anniversary of becoming vegan, which is November 4, 2009. I would write the book to help people pondering the thought of becoming vegan but who had doubts and worries about how the shift would affect them, especially when it came to participating in sports - most importantly endurance sports. I wanted to expose the myths as what they are, just myths.

Then the idea of writing a blog hit me like a ton of bricks. What a great idea. I could basically do research and jot my ideas down on the web and possibly be of assistance to someone immediately instead of waiting until after November 4. I'd also been intrigued by the idea of blogging but had never really come up with a solid topic that I could continue writing about on an almost daily basis. Being A Vegan Athlete was perfect.

Enough rambling. These are my goals pertaining to Being A Vegan Athlete:

1. Continued learning and interest in the aspects of being vegan. By constantly having to come up with and research new ideas, I am constantly learning new things and am having my conviction constantly fortified.


2. To help, encourage and support others in their own quest to do the moral and ethic thing by eliminating the suffering and murder of so many billions of innocent beings. It is a pretty scary decision to make and it is pretty much guarenteed that most will not get a lot of support. I often think that it would have been easier to tell family and friends that I was gay or was dying of cancer (by the way, I have the utmost respect for those who are gay or that have any form of cancer - these are people who will fight battles that most of us will never dream of in our wildest nightmares) than to tell them that I no longer was a savage.


3. To be a role model and lead by example. I never get into the 'my lifestyle is better than yours' argument with anyone. I do what I do. I state the facts if anyone sincerely asks for my opinion or wisdom. I maintain my diet and fitness level and hope that those around me notice and make the connection between the two. By the way, they do. I know I have affected people. I see it happen gradually. The questions first start with 'oh my god, how can stand not eating meat???' then they move on to more intelligent questions like 'do you feel healthier?' or 'do you think it will help my blood sugar problem?' and then eventually, sometimes, you hear 'I cut out meat for the past week and I've lost weight and feel great'. How does this pertain to blogging? I'm just writing the facts and not dissing anyone else's lifestyle. Recently, I've found a particular doctor who likes to litter the web with anti-vegan material. I thought about writing a piece about him, but what would that do? I would look like a militant terrorist and that's just not me. I believe one of our great role models, not just as vegans, but as human beings, should be Gandhi. The man changed the lives of a billion people by practicing non-aggression - we all can do it too.


4. To make a dime. Come on! It's not bad to try and make money on the web. This blog won't make me rich, but it might someday make enough to buy a new watch or a case of beer, maybe. Don't forget, as a vegan, and as an athlete, you need to earn more money because you are obviously going to live longer. I'll be damned if I'm going to live to 120 but can't do anything because I didn't make enough cash!

That's it. That's all, folks. I plan to continue on with this project for a long time and I hope to look back at these goals from time to time to find that they are just as important to me then as they are now. And - I do still have aspirations to write the book...