When you embark on your journey to become a Vegan, the starting point very often is food. Cutting out all things Vegan is a challenge for some people and an easier switch for others. I have met people who were Vegan for a while and switched back to being a Vegetarian or Omnivore. They all have their own reasons, sometimes excuses more like, but in the end we all make our own choices.
Of course Veganism isn’t solely about Food. It is about exploitation of animals, health views or environmental impacts.
From my experience, people who started a Vegan journey would, straight away, or more often after a while, also look into different areas of their lives to make amends towards a Vegan lifestyle.
Animal content is almost everywhere. Animal testing is still a big thing in today’s industry, the Cosmetical and Pharmaceutical.
After I made the transition in the things I ate, I went into my Cosmetics and made changes there. Then in terms of household cleaners, washing liquids etc.
Fashion is another topic. What do you do with everything you already own? All your shoes, your feather beds? Your wollen Coat?
Again, it is your choice and yours alone. If you throw away all those things, no animal is saved or helped as you already own and use these things and might have done for some time.
In my early years of becoming a Vegan, I often was confronted with this question by (mostly) non Vegans. In some heated debates I was accused of not being a “true Vegan” if I wasn’t giving up everything the other person considered I had to give up.
I am and always was of the opinion that there is not such thing as a “true” or “right” Vegan or a “correct” way of being one.
When you are Vegetarian, people are very flexible in what your options are. You can eat fish or not, eat eggs or not, eat dairy or not.
As a Vegan, you do have the same choice. It is solely up to you of how far you want to go with all things Vegan in your life. You can go as far as asking yourself if the company owner you buy your products from is Vegan himself or his employees or do you support someone who isn’t?
It always comes down to: YOU.
You have made the choice for yourself for your own reasons. No one is the judge of why and how you follow this decision. You might falter in between, you might not. You might “only” follow a Vegan diet. You might go down all the road and not even use a car as you might kill insects on the motorway.
Whatever your choice, follow it with your whole heart. Make amends if you need to, make amends if you want to, but never make amends because of other people’s expectations.
I once heard an interview with a Vegan Chef, confronted with the statement that Veganism was only a fashion. His reply was:
“The animal doesn’t care why it is not being killed.”
And they don’t.
So be happy, be the Vegan you want to be, in the way you choose 🙂
Especially Vegan 