And Will You Stand Here In This Fire With Me?
I knew that wedding song would be good for at least three blog headlines.
I was thinking today about some of my CR brothers and sisters with whom I've become very close in the last year. I've often said that I would never have been able to do CR without the CR Society. There are two reasons why: 1) The things I read on the list taught me how to change my diet so that I could be vibrantly healthy in a way I had never been before on very few calories 2) The support of my CR brothers and sisters has made it possible for me to not just change my diet but to change my life.
Listening to "Everything Is Different Now" on continuous repeat most of the day (my neighbors deserve this... they invite elephants and screaming toddlers to their house at 2 am) I reflected on the truly remarkable nature of that support. Remembering how Mary took so much time to help me figure out my diet... how two of my CR brothers have spent a great deal of their own time working with me on the connection between my diet and my anxiety levels... how when I think of my closest friends, CR folk whom I'd never even heard of a year ago are in the top five.
What is it about us that makes us stick together, be there for each other, and take time out of our busy days to support each other?
I think a lot of it can be explained in the fact that we're just weird. We know we're weird, and everytime we read a popular press account of our diet and lifestyle, we're reminded. To be both convinced that adopting a lifestyle where you put health above immediate gratification is pretty darned weird. We watch the people around us killing themselves slowly with our society's favorite poisons, and we make a different choice.
I also think that the kind of person who is attracted to CR loves life, and wants to share it. The same kind of person is attracted to the M Prize... it's one reason why I consider the non-CR'd M Prize brothers to be "one of us" too.
It's been less than a year, and so much has changed. Sometimes when I catch a glimpse of myself in a mirror I barely know it's me. All my life, I hated my body. Silly, really, because I was always one of those girls that boys thought was perfect, even though I always thought I was a touch too fat for fashion. Now I'm at peace with my body... and those struggles feel like they happened to someone else. Remember back in "Women's Magazines" when I wrote that the feeling of breaking lose from the body image obsession that consumes most American women felt like shattering a glass? In the video for "Everything Is Different Now," Don Henley shatters a martini glass. You can watch the video here: http://music.yahoo.com/track/1821025
I could do it because I found people who were willing to stand here in this fire with me. People who gave up their time, their mental energy, and were there for me through all the struggles -- not about food but about life, about who we will be and what's worth spending our life energy on.
She said I don't care what you do for a living
I don't care what kind of car you drive
And will you stand here in this fire with me?
Are you ready for another life?
I bit that bullet, I took that vow
And everything is different now.
I was thinking today about some of my CR brothers and sisters with whom I've become very close in the last year. I've often said that I would never have been able to do CR without the CR Society. There are two reasons why: 1) The things I read on the list taught me how to change my diet so that I could be vibrantly healthy in a way I had never been before on very few calories 2) The support of my CR brothers and sisters has made it possible for me to not just change my diet but to change my life.
Listening to "Everything Is Different Now" on continuous repeat most of the day (my neighbors deserve this... they invite elephants and screaming toddlers to their house at 2 am) I reflected on the truly remarkable nature of that support. Remembering how Mary took so much time to help me figure out my diet... how two of my CR brothers have spent a great deal of their own time working with me on the connection between my diet and my anxiety levels... how when I think of my closest friends, CR folk whom I'd never even heard of a year ago are in the top five.
What is it about us that makes us stick together, be there for each other, and take time out of our busy days to support each other?
I think a lot of it can be explained in the fact that we're just weird. We know we're weird, and everytime we read a popular press account of our diet and lifestyle, we're reminded. To be both convinced that adopting a lifestyle where you put health above immediate gratification is pretty darned weird. We watch the people around us killing themselves slowly with our society's favorite poisons, and we make a different choice.
I also think that the kind of person who is attracted to CR loves life, and wants to share it. The same kind of person is attracted to the M Prize... it's one reason why I consider the non-CR'd M Prize brothers to be "one of us" too.
It's been less than a year, and so much has changed. Sometimes when I catch a glimpse of myself in a mirror I barely know it's me. All my life, I hated my body. Silly, really, because I was always one of those girls that boys thought was perfect, even though I always thought I was a touch too fat for fashion. Now I'm at peace with my body... and those struggles feel like they happened to someone else. Remember back in "Women's Magazines" when I wrote that the feeling of breaking lose from the body image obsession that consumes most American women felt like shattering a glass? In the video for "Everything Is Different Now," Don Henley shatters a martini glass. You can watch the video here: http://music.yahoo.com/track/1821025
I could do it because I found people who were willing to stand here in this fire with me. People who gave up their time, their mental energy, and were there for me through all the struggles -- not about food but about life, about who we will be and what's worth spending our life energy on.
She said I don't care what you do for a living
I don't care what kind of car you drive
And will you stand here in this fire with me?
Are you ready for another life?
I bit that bullet, I took that vow
And everything is different now.
posted by April @ 9:54 PM
1 Comments:
At 5:50 PM,
Mary Robinson said…
I think you've figured something out for me. I've often wondered why the CR is such a faithful and consistent group of compatible people. The compatibility is easy to understand - we share a lot of values and are all disciplined and scientific people. But we are also "apart" from everyone else who is not doing CR. There is conflict with non-CR people on a regular basis. So there is a special sense of camaraderie.
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