I remember when I decided to go vegan at the beginning of 2016. I watched all those documentaries, YouTube videos and read a ton of books on veganism and nutrition in general. I was mind-blown and shocked about what was really going on in our food industry. Suddenly I felt really passionate about my new values and morals.
Seeing the people I love and care about eat animal products and not giving a shit about the lives of animals started to bother me a lot. I felt the urge to say something so I tried to educate my family, friends and boyfriend. I wanted them to realise that what they are doing to our planet was wrong. I remember I was even considering to leave my boyfriend if he wouldn’t go vegan, because I was so cought up in this whole “you have to be vegan“-mindset.
To some extend the people I watched on YouTube back then got into my head and made me want to be One Of Those Vegansâ˘. I wanted to make a big difference. I wanted to inspire people.
So I even considered joinging my local PETA team and I wanted to make a website dedicated to veganism. In the end I didn’t join the team and my vegsite (haha, get it??) also failed tragically.
After some time I started to calm down and stopped being so annoyingly pushy. The funny thing is; that’s when I started to inspire people to change their lifestyle. I didn’t try to lecture anyone about what to eat and wear and I stopped letting the fact that the people closest to me still eat animals get to me. I basically stopped caring if other people went vegan or not.
The only thing that matters to me now, is that I’m content with what I am doing.
Today I watched kris & yu’s video on why she stopped being vegan and it made me want to write this post. Honestly, I totally understand where she’s coming from and I don’t blame her for her decision.
And it made me think that maybe I won’t be vegan forever, either. Currently it feels like the right thing to do, but who knows how I’ll feel about this when I want to have a family and raise kids?
Frankly speaking I’m not even a perfect vegan right now. For example, if I really like a piece of clothing or shoes that are made of leather, I’d probably buy the item. As for make-up, I still own my old MAC lipsticks. If I were to move to a different country, I wouldn’t make it my first priority to be vegan, either. I’d rather focus on adjusting to my new environment.
What I’m trying to say is; being perfect is impossible and I agree, literally no one is 100% vegan. Like Kristin said; there’s always more you can do, but as long as you are trying your best – even if it’s just one vegan meal a week – that’s worth something.
I feel like most vegans are so judgmental (my old self included) and don’t acknowledge the small changes people make and that’s something that is fundamentally wrong with our community. We need to stop blaming people for not doing enough and for being “fake” vegans if they mess up. We need to start being more understanding and supportive because that’s what veganism should be about.
