Francis,<BR>Thanks very much! They say that guilt and shame is anger directed at oneself. If that is true (and I think it is), then I have a whole lot of anger towards myself! In my work with dog training and reading mentoring, I find it so easy to be patient and forgiving of mistakes and just simple differences in learning styles. This is a lesson I hope to apply towards how I treat myself. <P>Thank you too for respecting my lifestyle decision. Want to hear something funny? When I was much younger, I was very food and diet oriented. I was a hard-core vegetarian for almost 7 yrs. Wouldn't eat anything that even had meat broth in it! One day, from out of the blue, eating meat just started to appeal to me again. The most amazing part about being vegetarian for so long now, is that I could really care less about foods and diets. Maybe I somehow incorporated more healthy eating styles in there. This is how I'm viewing celibacy now too. It will allow me to focus on things I need to focus on without the emotional/physical dangers in sex. Who knows how long this phase will last? I know that if feels very good right now. I'd like to think I could keep it up for life. It seems like an interesting experiment anyway <p>[This message has been edited by TheStudent (edited January 10, 2000).]