About seven months ago, I made the decision to cut all animal products from my diet. I didn’t really give it much thought; I just wanted to try it out, because why not? Little did I know that going vegan would truly be life changing.
At first, my reasons for becoming a vegan were pretty selfish. I wanted to eat better in order to recover from the toll that my freshman year of college took on my body (RIP freshman year, you were a rough one). However, as I was researching veganism and learning more and more about the animal welfare aspect of it, I began to realize all the amazing benefits of going vegan other than the ones that directly affected me. I have greatly reduced my carbon footprint as well as stopped contributing to the industry of animal agriculture, along with the obvious fact that I was saving the lives of animals by reducing the demand for meat and animal products.
Something else that has come as a result of going vegan is that friends, family, classmates, etc. often inquire about why I am vegan and what I like about being vegan. By doing this, I have been able to inform so many people about why veganism is so amazing. Don’t get me wrong though, I am definitely not forcing veganism onto people, but by simply making them aware of the benefits of veganism, I have noticed that I have influenced multiple people in my life to at least consider going vegan. In the seven months that I have been vegan, my biological sister and a few of my sorority sisters have gone vegan, and my mom and boyfriend have gone vegetarian. As a result, all of those people are able to reach even many more people with the vegan message, and it will continue on down the line. Seeing how much I have been able to both impact and help improve the lives of so many people that I care about has been extremely rewarding, and it makes me feel like I am able to make a difference in the world.
Perhaps one of the most noticeable differences in my life after going vegan has been the incredible mental and emotional benefits. I never thought that what you chose to fuel your body with could make such a big difference in my state of mind and overall happiness. I can say without hesitation that the past seven months of my life have been the best months of my life, thus far. Granted, there are other factors that have contributed to my happiness, but I wholeheartedly believe that a major factor has been going vegan. I finally feel clear of all mental fog that once crowded my brain and my thoughts, and I feel like I am building good karma by sparing the lives of so many animals. Of course, that is just my personal view, but for me, that thought makes each day just a little better for me.
Another realization I have made since going vegan is how lucky I am to have the fantastic friends and family that I have. Even my crazy, Hispanic, meat-loving extended family is more accepting of my new lifestyle than I could have ever imagined. On Thanksgiving this year, my cousins, who cooked Thanksgiving dinner for the family, went out of their way to make vegan stuffing, soup and mashed potatoes for my mom, sister and me. There aren’t even words to express how much that meant to me, and it just goes to show that no matter what their personal thoughts were about veganism, they still cared enough to put in some extra work to ensure that our Thanksgiving meal was just as special as theirs.
So as you can probably see by now, I could go on forever about how veganism has changed my life for the better, so if you take anything from this article, just remember all of the incredible benefits that I have described. I am not necessarily saying go vegan, but just keep veganism in mind: for the planet, for the animals, for your health and for so much more.
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