JIB Inspiration: The Meat Challenge

Hey guys!

How are y’al doing? 

If you have followed my blog for the past two years, you would know that I normally try to do at least one challenge per year.

First, it was the corn challenge, then the Garri challenge, after which I did the gratitude challenge. 

My church’s fasting and praying programme begun on January 25th and I decided to spice up my fast by embarking on the topic of this blog post – The Meat Challenge. 

The meat challenge entailed pushing myself to see if I could go without meat for a whole month. This meant eating rice without chicken or bread with butter instead of eggs, or that nice roasted plantain with the Calabar Sauce without the smoked fish. 

Here’s why!

Anyone who really knows me know how much I love meat; although, I love fish and eggs too but if the protein to go with my meal is a chunk of meat or chicken, you know I am on that food.
The reason why I chose to stay off meat or fish or eggs for the duration of the fast is because I wanted to give up something worthwhile to ‘beef’ up my sacrifice (a.k.a fast). 

Meat in the context of this post means: goat meat, cow meat, fish, chicken, turkey and the likes....you get the point right? 

Having said that, let’s take a look at some of the lessons I learned from my ‘No – Meat/Protein’ Challenge which ends today!!!!

Enjoy!

LESSON 1: Be accountable
I knew that the only way I could truly commit to not going back on my word was to tell the people closest to me what I was about to embark on before I even begun. I will talk about the comments I got in the next lesson, lol. However, sharing my plan with my mom and sister, with my colleague and boss helped because I had people aware to be sure that I didn’t go back on my word.

LESSON 2: Yen Yen….Naysayers!

 
The first person I told I would embark on this challenge is a colleague; who, after laughing, told me to call him “when I failed”. My mom did the ‘Yinmu’ while my sister didn’t even react to what I had said. The same people who would hold me accountable knew my love for meat/fish so much that they didn’t believe when I said I would not eat meat for a whole month. 

See the problem was not really fish or eggs because I am not fussy about them but meat (including chicken) was what caused the scoffing and laughter and disbelief as a result of how well these people knew me.
No one would believe nor support you at first, do it anyway!

LESSON 3:  If there is a will, there is a way

 
When I would begin this challenge, no one encouraged me because they thought I was joking – in fact my family was sure I couldn’t pull it off. What I did, however, was to daily pray for grace and express gratitude to God for the end of each day. I applied this mindset because if I had looked at the whole 30 Days, it truly would have looked impossible. 

I would pick out strands of meat or pieces of fish from my food, would turn down any snack that had 'meat or beef or chicken in it. 

It still amazes me how throughout the period, even though I still liked meat, the desire to eat it  became buried. I would look at the most appetizing, yummy and juicy looking piece of turkey and treat it like rice...without any respect!

That, my dear readers, was completely out of character. 

The decision to do this challenge, holding on to the daily mercies that God had made available for me “each day” was how I found a way to go through 30 – long days without meat. 

LESSON 4: What’s your reason?
Like I mentioned earlier, although I had little or no support at the beginning of the fast cum challenge, I was not deterred. The reason why I still went ahead to do the fast was mainly because I wasn’t trying to prove a point to anyone. Even the people I would have wanted to impress sef didn’t believe I could succeed at the challenge, so it really was not about them. 

I went on this challenge because I wanted to make my sacrifice (aka fast) the best I had done so far. It was between God and me; if I failed, it would be disappointing Him and now that I didn’t fail, all glory still belongs to Him. 

So if you want to proceed on any form of challenge or fast, examine your heart and know the reason why you’re willing to take the step. There are really no good or bad reasons, in my opinion; however, the reason would be how one’s able to keep up when it gets tough….And believe me, it would be TOUGH.

LESSON 5: Envisage the rewards
I had days when I really felt like giving up…after all, God is all merciful and would understand. Had to give up a huge piece of fish one time, was around food and events throughout the month of February too. So the struggle was REAL!

What worked for me though was to look forward to the day I would finally eat meat again. My mom had come around at about the 15th day when she offered me a piece of meat pie and I declined because it had meat. So she promised me lots of meat when I was done, my boss also said he would buy me shawarma when I completed the fast. I also went ahead to order for some nice small chops to be delivered sometime after my fast. 

Also, I had struggled to shed some weight for the most part of last year and this fast looked like a good way to get the extra pounds off. At first, it looked like the fat wouldn’t fall off but towards the end of the fast, I noticed that most of my tight outfits had begun to fit me nicely again. 

Just negodu God?

All these were the lights that kept me going through on days when it seemed hard or impossible; but like I said, God’s grace was sufficient for me.

Thank you so much for reading this post. I sincerely hope it has inspired you in some way to keep going on irrespective of how many hurdles you may encounter.