If I was an Atheist

What would change about your life if you were an atheist? It seems that most people’s inclination is to be more wild and promiscuous, which I find funny, but I will save this topic for a later discussion. The biggest thing that would change in my life would be my sense of purpose. If there was no God, I would stop caring about the well-being of humans. Humans have fully functional, reasonable, rational brains that can choose to do whatever they want. Humans determine the outcome of their lives, and continually make bad choices, making themselves and those around them suffer. It’s annoying. If there was no God, there’d be no reason for me to care about these people, so I wouldn't.

If I was an atheist, I’d join PETA and most likely dedicate my life to freeing animals or have the job described in this podcast. I’ve always had a soft spot for animals. Animals are loving and caring beings, yes beings. I’m not about to go through how animals are slaughtered and mistreated, we already know all about that. Go youtube that if you want a reason to feel crappy today.

Anyway, animals are too often underestimated or ignored. Cows, as well as other farm animals have been studied for emotional cues. In these studies, the scientists were able to measure their brainwaves and vitals. Scientists have concluded that cows are capable of feeling fear, anxiety, hold grudges, enjoy sex, and maintain friendships with other cows as well as humans. Some studies even suggest that animals have a sense of self.

Animals also laugh. In a rat study, scientists were able to make rats laugh by tickling them. The rats not only laughed, but also returned to be tickled again, suggesting that humans aren't the only mammals with emotional lives and that animals can also experience social-joy.

Radio lab, my second favorite podcast (my first favorite obviously being LLUC/Randy Roberts), has a fantastic segment on animal minds. In this segment, they discuss the possibility of communication between animals and different species. In this specific episode, they tell a story about a trapped whale who gets rescued, and potentially shows gratitude to her rescuers. This was so touching to me, because my biggest pet peeve is when I allow someone to cut in front of me on the freeway, and they don't show gratitude by giving me the courtesy wave.

If you do choose to eat meat, fine, do whatever you want. My libertarian will always advocate for personal freedom. However, I'd urge you to consider Michael Pollen's take on eating meat. If you're going to eat meat, you need to experience killing an animal and butchering it, so that you can fully understand and appreciate the process. If you had to kill a cow and butcher it every time you wanted to eat one, it seems like you'd do that a lot less often. Killing things is personal, buying lunch meat in the grocery store, is not.

I have no doubt that God exists, meaning I will always find helping humans more important than helping animals. However, animals are still one of God’s creations, and they should be treated with love and kindness.

So the next time you eat meat, I’d like you to consider that you’re eating a being that had a best friend, laughed, enjoyed having sex, and felt fear as it saw it’s family being killed and felt anxiety as it was about to be killed, so that you could eat it. That’s all. enjoy your day.

25 and Going on Menopause

In this past season of the Bachelorette, Emily asks one of her dates, Ryan, if he would still love her in 10 years if she got fat. Ryan famously answers, “I’d love ya, but I wouldn’t love on ya.” I never liked Ryan, but appreciated his honesty. My friend was not offended by Ryan’s comment, “Imagine you marry someone who has a good job and works hard, and once you get married, he quits his job, sits on the couch all day, and collects unemployment. Would you feel lied to?”

“I would be able to sense his poor work ethic and I wouldn't be attracted to him in the first place, so that would never happen to me, but I guess I understand your analogy,” I told him.

I work with a lot of women who struggle with weight gain, and a lot of these women attribute it to age and a slowing metabolism. I’ve heard variations of this story several times, “I weighed 120 lbs when I got married, and now I weigh 180.”

This use to make me worried, because I almost felt as if weight gain was inevitable, but the more I talk to women, the more I realize, it is not inevitable. While counseling these women on developing healthy lifestyles, I continuously make mental notes of where I think they’ve gone wrong. I’ve compiled a list:

1. Develop good eating habits now. When I was in high school I worked at Cold Stone and ate ice cream every day, I would go to In-n-Out and get a grilled cheese sandwich with extra sauce and French fries, and I never exercised; I was 95 lbs. I could still do this now if I didn’t mind looking like Jabba the Hut and having a heart attack at 45. If you eat poorly, you will get fat… it’s all about portion sizes and healthy choices, everyday.

2. Don't stop exercising. Use it or lose it. Muscle tone and regular cardio will keep your metabolism going. Everyone’s excuse is that there is “no time.” Make time. Time management is a struggle for everyone, but it’s doable. The longer you're sedentary, the harder it is to start exercising again... But it's never too late to start :)

3. Don’t wear pants with elastic. I’m serious. Have you been in a hospital lately? I am convinced that if hospital workers had to wear jeans to work, their weight would drop by at least 10%. If your job requires you to wear scrubs, when you go home, put on a pair of jeans. It’s really easy to gain weight when you wear one size fits all clothes 24/7. This includes leggings. It’s a slippery slope. Be careful. Wearing dresses everyday is pretty risky too.

4. Make time to relax. Chronic stress is the new plague. Find anything enjoyable that allows you to figure out your s appropriately. Talk it out, hug it out, write it out, or whatever it takes to manage whatever problems you have.

5. Have hobbies; hobbies that don’t involve food. Everyone should do something that makes them unique, happy, and accomplished. Being a mom is great, but it doesn’t count as a hobby.

6. Learn good coping mechanisms. People are taught a lot of things, coping mechanisms aren’t one of them. I see a lot of people who eat because they’re depressed, stressed, or anxious. If you don’t know what good coping mechanisms are, buy a book on coping skills.

7. Get some positive thinking skills—hormonal changes never results in rational thinking. Don’t let yourself get depressed. Happiness is a choice. Laugh and smile. No one likes a scowl, and there are always things to laugh about. Life is great.

So I’m turning 25 this year and I have nothing to worry about :)