My Way: Matt Mueller
When Dhrumil asked me to contribute My Way I couldn't help but to crack a joke. Was he sure I was Raw enough? Didn't I go out too much and stay out too late? I'm not exactly the Raw Role Model - was he sure that I was feature worthy? It was of course a joke, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I have felt some underlying social pressure since entering the community. The pressure to put up my best and healthiest front at all times. If you have a drink sometimes, eat the occasional cooked item, or go out past your bedtime some nights... keep it hush hush - right? This is about health and being RAW! - anytime you deviate from that you're obviously not having the best day ever. Go raw or go home they say.
Maybe I am making this up and no one else has felt this but I believe one of the most important things we can do is to be authentic. To be real, open, and honest people at all times. Warts, bruises, scars and all.
It's when we open up and share our true selves with others that we can create the space to allow them to open up as well. I believe magic happens in this space. I also believe that the most important thing for a raw newcomer is to feel that this life style is a hip, fun and sexy way to live. Portraying everyone as monk, living on only sprouts, always being perfect... well that may not attract people and keep them interested the way I hope too. Gone are the days of the crunchy granola types. In are the days of sexy people, both inside and out, eating great foods and living amazing lives. So it's with this thought that I start my week.
Thursday
Getting ready to head out for a big night on the town and what to eat?
I've developed a few staples that I seem to have everyday now and I ate
both before heading out. First, is huge massaged kale salad, topped
with avocado, celery, bell pepper, hemp seeds, and a splash/dash of
honey and salt. I topped that off with my new favorite green smoothie:
Spinach, frozen strawberry, banana, coconut water, spirulina,
splash/dash of honey and sea salt. Along with a huge glass of water and
now it's time to start the night.
Electron!! Electron is a combination of two of my
favorite bands. The Disco Biscuits and Brothers Past. They played an
amazing show at the Highline Ballroom in Chelsea and for the second set
covered many Phish songs. One of the most fun shows I've been to all
year. Nothing quite like throwing down and being surrounded by a group of your
best friends. Amazing times truly. Oh I also met a vegan girl who
digs Pure Food and Wine!! A quick aside here. When I first went vegan
I avoided telling everybody because I didn't want to answer 1001
questions. It became a drag and it was something I wasn't comfortable
with. Well this has totally shifted around and I now lead with telling
people about it. 'Hi, I'm Matt... I'm a bit crazy and I eat all types
of raw vegan foods.' When you lead with your authentic self you make
truly great connections. People want real.
Friday
I made my first trip down to the Bowery Whole Foods as I
was to have a meeting with our very own Dhrumil. It has been a long
term goal of mine to become an entrepreneur and I was honored that we
had a chance to sit down together to discuss some projects. I'm a big
believer in finding areas of your life that you wish to improve on and
seeking out mentors in those areas. They can help put you on the fast
track to success. I had a chance to grab a great salad from the
upstairs salad bar as we finished up our meeting. A few quick asides
here. First, Bowery Whole foods
is amazing. I believe it is the biggest supermarket in NYC and it's
setup so open and spaciously. Second, have you
ever heard people talk about how sometimes 'well sure I was was working
but it didn't feel like work? It's just what I do?' I kind of had one
of those aha moments, where I was like right now I couldn't be happier
doing anything else than hanging out in Whole Foods brainstorming
projects so I kind of made the commitment to myself right then and
there to find a way to follow my passions one way or another. Then
later that night, Halloween. I was off to the thrift store to pickup
some items for my last minute Richie Tenebaum costume. Then I was off
to pick up my favorite Gnosis chocolate bar because it wouldn't be
Halloween without treats, right? After getting
ready, I walked across town to a friends house party in Chelsea.
Walking through Union Square I couldn't help thinking to myself, "Wow
there are so many freaks out right now. I'm getting a little scared." I texted
Charles a few times for support.
Saturday
My friends reggae band Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad
at Sullivan Hall. Quite the strange name eh? I found myself thinking,
going out again? Boy I could sure use some crazy cacao-maca-tonic or
something. (I think that was my facebook status for the day) Anyway
powered by my favorite green smoothie and another huge kale salad I
managed to make my way down and enjoy some music and meetup with two of
long term college friends who I don't see often enough. While
wandering
around the streets of New York at set break I saw girl who I kinda knew
who invited us to go next door after the concert to the Sullivan Room,
where a great house dj was playing. So after the reggae show wrapped
up, we headed down and wow, what great music. This was a blast. My
college friend came back to my place where we stayed up to close to 8
AM reminiscing and having extremely deep life conversations.
Sunday
Football!! I am a Jets fan and my winter Sunday's are often
spent indoors watching games and checking out my fantasy teams. I ate
some cooked quinoa today and a spicy vegan stew my mom sent with me
last week, (love you Mom!!)
p.s. Don't vote me off the island my fellow raw foodies!!
Monday
A few books arrived in the mail from amazon. Tribes by
Seth Godin and Personal Development for Smart People by GITMRs very
own
Steve Pavlina. I breezed through Tribes and I think my main takeaway
is the reaffirmation of how the power is shifting from the corporation
to the individual and their community. Today technology and social media is changing the
playing field. One of my favorite tribe leaders is GaryVaynerchuk.com
of WineLibraryTV.com. Just today on his personal website he has a
great video about how brands are being built differently today, as people spend more time in front of their computer than in front of
there TVs. "Where the eyeballs go is where the brands go" he says.
This echos a message from Tribes about how the old model is that you
needed to have a lot of money for a factory, a corporate structure and a massive TV budget. The new model, today's model, is based on the fact that anyone with a labtop and a passion
can build a brand and lead a tribe. The rules are changing. What did
I eat today? I started my with a huge glass of spring water, with
lemon and MSM and followed that with super intense green juice.
Dandelion, parsley, celery, and lemon. Wowza. I hate to sound like a
record on repeat but a few more green smoothies and another kale salad
along with some apples for the day.
Tuesday
Election Day. Having my home base in the pretty blue
states of New York and New Jersey, and having a democracy where we can
only realistically vote for two candidates, I sometimes find myself becoming disillusioned. Less so today, but that disillusionment is still slight present. All this excitement is fantastic, but I fear that it's fleeting. I'm excited to see young people care, but so many of them are thinking about what our President-elect will do to bring change. Don't get me wrong, I am
absolutely thrilled to have Obama as the new face of our government for
countless reasons, but I really want people to see that hope in themselves too. "Be the change" as Ghandi said. I want to see everyone asking themselves, "What can I do today that will move my
life forward the most? Are my actions in the best interest of the community and the planet?" Nonetheless, today is a great and historic day.
I head over to Bonobos. I'm re-reading the Sun
Food Diet Success System by David Wolfe and learning about the detoxification process and
the lymph system. My current favorite meal at Bonobos is the macadamia
nutmeat salad. You get the nutmeat, a choice of 5 vegetables to mix in
and you can substitute the kale salad for regular lettuce. This is a
massive raw meal for under ten dollars. Delish!!. Later I headed over
to Sal Anthony's, next to Pure
Food and Wine, where I ate another meal and met some great new people.
The zucchini pesto pasta was pretty blazing.
I spend the rest of the evening at home thinking about how I would continue to make everyday voting day, how social
media is
changing everything and how I could become the best, most authentic person I could be.
My name is Matt Mueller and this is My Way.
Comments