Resistance is Futile

Prince Fielder slugs it out in the land of bratwurst. I’m talented at a good many things, but I’ve only truly mastered one particular skill: resistance. I resist change. I resist exercise. I resist giving up chocolate milk and cookies (you can read more about my lingering bad habits here). I resist following my creative impulses, and going to bed earlier, and getting up earlier, and giving up spending so much money on ornate garden trellises (don’t ask). So when I read that Prince Fielder, the 265-pound first baseman for the Milwaukee Brewers, overcame his resistance to change and became a vegetarian (he’s the first “out vegetarian” in baseball), I was impressed and inspired. Here’s a guy deeply immersed in sports culture, playing baseball in the state where bratwurst was born, saying no to meat. The article I spotted, “"Meat is Out at Fielder's Plate,” was all about the resistance he’s now encountering from tailgating fans, who started shouting gems like “C’mon Prince, eat some brats — sauté them in a little Miller Lite!” at games. Fielder is fighting whatever internal resistance he may have had plus the wild-eyed resistance of hundreds of thousands of hardcore fans. Steven Pressfield, the author of The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles, says that, more or less, the way to win the battle with resistance is to show up for it — every day. Say you finally want to write that novel: Then everyday at a certain time, you pull up a chair and just start writing. It doesn’t have to be good or even coherent. It doesn’t matter if you’re idealess that morning, or sick, or hungover, or it’s the first day of Macy’s White Sale, or your mother-in-law is coming over later and you’re so filled with dread that you “just can't do it.” You sit down and write something anyway, crap or not. And that, says Pressfield, is how it gets done. In short, overcoming resistance takes presence and perseverance. And if we’re lucky enough to be able to persevere and overcome resistance without mobs of people shouting, “Beer brats are the breakfast of champions!” so much the easier. I'm currently working on trying to go to bed a bit earlier and wake up earlier. I'm proud to report that this morning I was out of bed 15 minutes earlier than usual! Sure, it was because my one of my dogs threw up and I was on cleaning duty, but I'm still taking credit. PS: Fielder became a vegetarian after reading about the inhumane treatment of chicken and cattle and getting, in his words, "totally grossed out." That's what happened to me nearly a decade ago when I gave up meat. But now my reasons have expanded to include the environment. The production of meat requires a huge number of resources and energy, and it involves intensive and unsustainable agricultural practices that promote monoculture crops. According to 2006 United Nations report, meat production is considered one of the largest contributors to environmental degradation worldwide. So if you were looking for one more good reason for giving up meat, now you can add "saving the world" to your list.