For Everyone Who Thought They Would Always Be Vegan

So it's been over a year since I've written anything for this blog and I think it's time for an update. First of all, yes I am currently vegan. However, I haven't been vegan this whole time. I have been on this crazy back and forth, up and down roller-coaster for the past year. I just barely started my vegan lifestyle over again on New Year's Day, and this time I plan to stick with it for good. For real this time. But since you're probably wondering let me just tell you what happened that caused me to quit in the first place.

Back in October of 2014 I reconnected with an old love (now fiance) who of course is not vegan. I had honestly (and unrealistically) hoped that I would be able to convince him to be vegan so that I wouldn't be the only person I knew who had this different lifestyle. I was really relying on this because I was starting to feel like it was getting to be too hard to do on my own. Support is a very important part of making any lifestyle change. But things did not go as I wanted them to and I was stuck with the very lonely realization that I was still the only person I knew who was even vegetarian.

This concept was so crushing for me that I decided to just quit. That's right, I gave up. I gave up because I didn't feel like I could do it alone. Of course I could have, but it didn't seem like it at the time. I'm sure that this is a normal feeling for anyone who is different. I'm not proud of giving up on something so important but there's nothing I can do about it now.

So for a few months I just ate like everyone else again. For the record, my first time eating meat again was less than impressive. But I still did it anyway. Soon enough I began to realize that I still wanted to be vegan, or at least vegetarian. That's what started the cycle. A vicious cycle of going back and forth from "normal" to vegetarian, back to normal, back to vegan. Nothing ever lasted, especially my meatless days. I was so stuck in all the peer pressure and didn't like the idea of not being able to just enjoy all the same things everyone else did. It was comfortable, convenient, and I easily got used to it since it had been that way most of my life.

But by the end of the year, I had made a decision. I knew for sure what I wanted to do. I wanted to be vegan, and I was going to make it happen for the long run no matter how many times I had to try. I started with going vegetarian again, like I did the first time. After about 3 months of cutting out meat, I planned on going full vegan. On January 1st 2016 I began my vegan lifestyle again.

So while I did fall off the wagon and hit a few bumps along the way, I found my way back to what is right for me. The reason I wrote this is to show anyone else who gave up on being vegan that if you decide you want to come back to this lifestyle you can. Anyone can do it.