Real life: “My boyfriend meditates, does yoga and I find it so unattractive”

When I met R, he was a real hockey guy. A bit corpulent, who was more about the meter of beer than the ginger tea. I always found it hilarious how wonderfully hungover he could be and that somewhat chubby belly, I actually found quite cozy. In any case, I never had to worry about my own figure because there was always someone chunkier in our relationship.

After our study time, we moved in together and quite quickly R got a good job at ABN AMRO. He had to work very hard right away, a world of difference from half a year ago when he spent his days recovering until there was a five on the clock and a friend called to go for beers.

He tried to hold onto both worlds, but eventually he spent more time behind his laptop than at the bar. At one point, he decided to quit smoking, something I greatly encouraged because smoking is of course just bad for people. When he came in with a tray of 0.0, I didn't even raise an eyebrow, because we are all just drinking less together. And it's also just a bit more mature. But when he downloaded a meditation app on his iPhone, I started to frown. After that, he stopped eating meat and decided to not drink for a month. Now, a year later, I can hardly believe it, he has become vegan. He goes to bikram yoga twice a week and gets up half an hour earlier every morning to meditate.

The beer belly has disappeared and made way for a six-pack. That's all very good and healthy, but I do miss that R from three years ago sometimes.