This is a question I get asked frequently, well why not, I commonly answer? There are so many reasons to go vegan and everyone has their own, I’m not gonna share statistics or facts, no, today I want to share my personal reason of going vegan. I’m sure I’ll make more posts about the benefits of veganism for the planet, animals and our bodies, but today I’ll try to speak from my heart, this is going to be personal.
A little back story.
About two years ago I reached a point in my life where I definitely hit rock bottom, just getting through the days was a struggle by itself. I’ll not go into detail too much, but it must have been the conclusion of some of the darkest years I’d ever experienced, I felt lonely, confused and desperate for a way out. One night when things got out of hand I felt like I had an epiphany, something clicked and from that moment on I knew what to do, I had to make some changes.
That is when I decided to really commit to changing my lifestyle, I was busy exploring spirituality, meditation and yoga. The reason I decided to dive myself into the realm of spirituality is because I was looking for answers, answers about myself, life and all of the between. During this period of my life meditating was a life changing experience, for once I felt like everything was fine and experienced a sense of calm and tranquility, together with yoga, and therapy (which is a whole different post by itself, which I’m not ready to share), I started to build a stable foundation for myself.
How I found veganism.
One thing I stumbled upon when I started to research a little about chakras, was something called a chakra diet. This diet heavily promoted plant-based foods, so of course, open-minded as I was, decided to do some more research about this lifestyle, which led me to some youtubers talking about veganism. It all started with Teal Swan and infinite waters, because at this point my main focus was still spirituality and cleansing my body of any “bad” energies. This quickly led me to YouTube channels like freelee and Kristina who shared more about the vegan lifestyle. All of this made me very curious so one day I decided to go vegetarian for a while, well this didn’t last long, only five days later I decided to go all the way and try this vegan “diet”.
The first few weeks were challenging to say the least, I no longer ate with my family and had to make my own meals, which were often a hot mess! I’m not even joking, I even tried eating raw eggplant, yup, my knowledge of vegan cooking was small, oh so small. Besides that I started shoving veganism down my families throats, which would definitely help them change to this lifestyle as well, right!? Wrong, this absolutely backfired and caused lots of fights, so I decided to be the change I’d like to see in the world. I quit smoking, took control of my alcohol problems, stopped using medications and started a new chapter in my journey.
Why I stayed vegan.
“As long as Man continues to be the ruthless destroyer of lower living beings, he will never know health or peace. For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love.” -Pythagoras
At this point I watched some documentaries like forks over knifes and some YouTube videos like 101 reasons to go vegan. This quote by Pythagoras also changes a lot for me, for some reason it spoke to me on a whole new level! I no longer did it for my physical and mental health, but it totally took on a more environmental and cruelty free approach, while still trying to be healthy of course.
Not only did I become more conscious of what I put into my body, this vegan and yogi lifestyle thought me to truly kind to myself and others, make real inner and outer connections and it helped me find a sense of purpose. I love connecting with you beautiful people through this website and my Instagram account.
It’s quite hard for me to be so open and personal, but I feel a need to share them with you. We can all learn from each other, more importantly from out pasts and current mistakes, struggles and tragedies. Lets grow together and create a loving and bright community.
In the short two years of me being vegan so much has already changed, people are actually becoming more conscious about what they’re doing with their bodies, the environment and the animals. Studies have come out supporting this lifestyle and stores are starting to sell more and more plant-based products.
So why did I go vegan? I believe in a clean planet where we can all life peacefully. Feel free to let me know how you felt about this post and if you would like to see more (personal) lifestyle posts.
One Love,
A.J.
I remember when I hit rock bottom in my life and this put me on the path to adopting a plant-based, whole foods diet as well. Before that, I had the worst eczema you could imagine. It was so bad that I could barely sleep and doctors told me that nothing could be done. So, I tried the unthinkable and within two weeks of taking meat, dairy, eggs and fried foods out of my diet, my eczema was almost 100% gone. Years later, my energy has remained at an all time high and my mood has shifted. Thank you for sharing your story because there are many more out there such as yourself who need to hear it.
Hi there! Thank you so much for sharing your story and I’m really happy to read that you eczema is at bay, it’s one of my goals for this year, to finally get rid of it! Really good to know you’re thriving so much! Much love to you ❤️