What does it mean to give something up? And how can it help to enliven the earth?

Many won’t argue that some change of our habits won’t hurt in order to enliven the earth. Changes like flying less, consuming less, complaining less [more about that in a second]. I almost entirely gave up shopping clothes. And I love it. I don’t mind that others are still buying a bunch of clothes, I am not mad at anyone, because I wouldn’t want to trade my way with anyone else’s. I am also trying to give up all dairy. And I hate it. Of course I know all the arguments, but it just tastes sooo good to me. Whenever I don’t eat it, two tiny cows appear in my head. One purple, one pink. Purple is saying: You don’t eat my baby’s food. You are awesome. You are the best. Pink is saying: Your best friend eats a homemade sourdough bread with goats cheese and honey on it, why can’t you have it. You are the most deprived person on this planet. When pink dominates, I start complaining. Not just internally, but externally as well. I tell people who are not vegan how hard it is. I also judge people harshly who don’t eat vegan.

“Because I care more than you, right? Because I do what’s right, not what’s easy, right? I suffer, so your children can life a happy life, right?” (myself)

It’s all part of a big complain about giving up dairy. When at a certain time (that is unfortunately not now) I don’t eat any dairy for a few months, what’s the difference between having given up shopping cloths and not eating dairy. The difference is, that I actually haven’t given up dairy, as long as I keep complaining. I have given up cloths’ shopping. Because I love it. Because I enjoy it so much more than any other option. I haven’t come to the point of having given up dairy yet. As long as I haven’t, the worst I can do is tell people that it’s so much better to eat vegan and that everyone on this planet should do it (as much as I would love to be able to be that person). The result though is that coming from a place where I haven’t given up on it myself, the result I get is that I drive people away and - consciously or not - I reveal to them that it sucks. It’s like when parents try to tell their children to eat brussels sprouts, instead of chocolate, when clearly they themselves enjoy chocolate so much more. It’s incoherent.

Conclusion

If we want to give something up, we need to enliven our purple cow, we need to love it and stop complaining.