Don’t be a pain in the whatsit: Rule #1 of 5

Kyloe: view from the front stoep. A good place to be reminded of the bigger picture, and to keep things in perspective. Which brings me to the following: Don't be a pain. For heaven's sake - and for your own, no less than for the sake of those around you - keep things in perspective. Approach your fruitarianism with as much elegance, and as light a touch as you can manage. Some wise person somewhere said: Get over heavy ground as lightly as possible. So, in that spirit, here is the first of my 5 little rules:

STOP EXPLAINING
Lose the compulsion to over-explain. Just lose it. You’ll find that some friends – or indeed family members – don’t agree with what you’re doing. So what ? Let it go. Once you’ve embarked on a well-informed, well-considered and well-motivated journey towards your own empowerment, you have earned the right to be free of the symbiotic need to be understood & validated.

And don’t apologize. If you’ve been ill-mannered, apologize for that, certainly – but not for having the guts to take responsibility for yourself. If your critics are not on a similar path, it’s highly unlikely that they’ll be familiar with the co-ordinates of your world. In-depth explanations may be meaningless to them. So, stand back, disengage from the emotional hooks of the situation, and share only as much information as may be necessary to facilitate a light atmosphere.

I know, I know - easier said than done, sometimes. When there's someone who just has to dig & pinch & snipe - just tell him (it's usually a him) you've decided to experiment with fruitarianism. He wants to know why ? Oh, you want to see what it can do for your sex-life. If that doesn't shut him up, it'll at least divert the conversation into a channel which will reveal more about him, than all his probing about your fruitarianism revealed about you...