Jan. 1, 2017 marked three years since I became a vegetarian. The year-and-a-half preceding that choice had been my hardest yet. One of the closest people in my life had fallen ill, and I lost a general sense of purpose in who I was. I craved change in what seemed to be an endless cycle of bad news without finish lines. Graduation was still years away, I didn’t have close friends at school, and I desperately wanted to feel in charge of some portion of my life.
By the time December 2013 hit, I was ready to take any finish line I could get, even if it meant the cheesy “new start” that a new year could signify. I knew that I could change my life at any moment if I really wanted to, so I thought why not use the excuse of the New Year as an insurance policy for my new lifestyle changes?
That’s when I decided to cut meat out from my life. A combination of reading Kris Carr’s “Crazy Sexy Diet” and being fed up with hating my body for no apparent reason made me jump to this conclusion. Coming from Brazil, a country where eating meat is ingrained as part of our culture, becoming a vegetarian wasn’t exactly a popular choice. That was part of the appeal though, a shift that would be mine because I had decided it for myself, and no one else.
At that point, little did I know that making this choice would be the best decision of my life thus far.
Three years later, I can still honestly say that this decision was one of those life changing moments that seeps into every portion of my life. Becoming a vegetarian was much more than replacing chicken with tofu in my burrito order; it was about teaching myself that I am, in fact, in charge of my own life, and that nobody else needs to tell me what is right for me.
This autonomy was instrumental to my growth, and the positivity that flowed into my life following the change was instant. My overall energy increased, my grades improved, and my passions for the things I loved began to solidify and excite me that much more. Furthermore, my compassion for myself and the earth around me shot up like never before, giving me a new outlook on the things that mattered in my life.
With the start of the new semester, I wanted to share my New Year’s resolution success story because it has made me believe so strongly that anyone really can change their life at any given point. I am not here to tell you that vegetarianism is the perfect diet or the solution to all of life’s problems, but rather that positive changes can only stem from within. Whether the change you are seeking comes in the form of a dietary alteration, workout regime, or a newfound spiritual practice, make it personal, and make it yours. You are ALWAYS in charge of your life, your choices, and your outlook, so never let anyone let you think that a simple change can’t result in long-lasting effects.
If you haven’t made a New Year’s resolution yet, that’s okay, because any day of the year can be your blank slate if you let it be. Start a journal, commit to a study routine, or dedicate more time to your loved ones. Make positive changes, because you deserve to experience your best self, and you’re the one in charge of making that happen.