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Meat Is Murder

Becoming Vegan

By Allison BrubacherPublished 6 years ago 6 min read
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"Meat is murder!" I would hear my obnoxious coworker yell. Kelsi was her name. Kelsi, a 5'4" brown haired girl with perfect straight across bangs, so sweet and caring, yet could snap your neck in a blink of an eye. Obnoxious is probably an understatement; she'll shout out random noises at you as she passes, her hiccups sound like a dog is barking, and she'll probably speak to you in Korean at some point, which she taught herself. She's most definitely an introvert but isn't afraid to voice her craziness or opinions.

Thank god for Kelsi. Kelsi has been a vegetarian for two years and on and off a vegan. As of now she's a vegan of three weeks. Her pushy character is what led me to becoming a vegan, and I'm so thankful for it.

I thought about becoming a vegetarian for quite a while. I would listen to her ramble about how it's better for the environment and our body and the animals and run home right after work and tell my dad that I was going to do it, too. He would always say, "no, you're not," and I honestly believed him, because who am I to think I can give up meat after eating it for 20 years? How am I supposed to give up my dad's amazing steak kabobs or his crock pot roast or his homemade gyros!? Why would I do that to myself? So, of course, I didn't.

Until one day at work, I was challenged. See most of the people I work with are men, who looooove their meat. They could probably eat steak for breakfast lunch and dinner and still crave a double bacon cheeseburger for a snack. Before we went on break and ate whatever food was left from the residents, I decided I was going to stop eating meat. Right then and there. Now this was probably the third time I said I wouldn't eat meat to my coworkers, and they watched me fail all three times. So someone said, "You're not even going to last a week." So naturally, I took that as a challenge.

November 4, 2017: the day I became a vegetarian. To my surprise, it wasn't hard, like at all. You know, I have tried cutting desserts and sweets out of my diet more times than I can even count and I have never made it past 3 days, let alone a week. But there I was, a month later, December 4, happy as ever still vegetarian.

The day you become vegetarian, you become a part of an entirely different community. Strangers start flowing in your social media inboxes, friends you never thought were even vegetarian start sending you recipes. Which only gets you more excited to keep up with this change in your diet. Talking with many of those friends and my family about being vegetarian, I always said I would never become a vegan; I just couldn't do it. I love desserts, I love cheese, I love frosting, I love doughnuts; literally anything and everything has some sort of dairy in it. It was just out of the question.

A little over a month into it, I wanted more information on being vegetarian, so Kelsi suggested I watched Vegucated and Forks Over Knives on Netflix. So on my next day off I decided to watch Vegucated. Which I thought was a vegetarian documentary, but it most certainly was not. She tricked me. Damn you, Kelsi!

If you haven't seen Vegucated, oh my gosh, please watch it. It changes everything. They show you farms, slaughter houses, and talk with real doctors who are vegans and suggest to their clients to become one. But please don't go into it close-minded. Your whole perspective will change, and I'm not one to push my ideas onto others, but try and watch that whole documentary and not have a little remorse or a little bit of your head thinking about going vegan. I'm not gonna lie, I was mad. I went into work screaming "You tricked me!" But she most definitely didn't trick me, she informed me, which is what I had asked for.

So all throughout the documentary, I was literally coming up with any and every excuse to not be vegan, and it's almost like they know that's how you're thinking because they prove to you every reason why you should be. I would snap crazy facts or gruesome videos that they presented and post it to my snapchat story telling everyone to go watch it.

The same day at work, the topic came up and I was telling everyone at work to watch it. While preaching to be vegetarian and helping animals and the Earth, another worker challenged me. She stopped me mid-sentence and said, "Why are you telling everyone to watch it if you're not vegan?" To which I replied, "Because I still don't eat animals, which is still better and I'm saving them." She snapped back with something that caught me off guard. "How can you say you're for the animals and you are helping them and tell people to watch Vegucated when you yourself still eat dairy? Those animals are still on lots being forced to produce milk and eggs 24/7. You're not eating meat, but you're still supporting the industry." I honestly got a little mad, not even at her just at myself for looking stupid. So right then and there I said, "Fine, as of now I'm vegan; literally at this moment in time I am vegan." No one believed me again, which only pushed me to do it even more. But then I realized I had just went to the store and bought eggs and milk and cheese and Christmas is right around the corner and I CANNOT miss my mom's crustless quiche for Christmas morning. So, I made a bet; I said I would become vegan on the 26th of December.

So the countdown begins.

I was honestly more excited to become vegan than vegetarian. It has been so fun coming up with different meals and finding new recipes that I could make or alter to produce a vegetarian meal. Now the difficulties have risen and luckily I am one who loves a challenge. I couldn't wait to start! I literally would announce every day how many days were left until I was vegan. I almost think I was more excited to become vegan than I was for Christmas.

Fast-forward to today, January 3, almost three months of being vegetarian and the ninth day of being vegan! I haven't been happier. And I'm not just saying that to cover up how miserable it is being vegan. I am genuinely more happy.

Switching to being a vegetarian I noticed a change in my mood right away. I was way more happy. The months before November I had been very depressed, I didn't want to do anything but sleep, I felt like my life was in a rut, I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, I was just unhappy. Not even a week into it, all of those thoughts and emotions went out the window. I have continued to become more and more happy and upbeat. Now that I have become vegan, it is another whole new feeling. Along with being upbeat and happy 24/7, I feel more light and I don't even know how to explain it honestly. I feel just so healthy, and that's as close as I'm gonna get to explaining it.

Like I said, there is a whole other community you get welcomed into once you become vegetarian/vegan. You have so much support and love and motivation from friends and people you don't even know. You will feel healthier and you will be happier. If you have ever thought about changing your diet, please do it! Go for it! Stop holding back on things in your life because you're worried if you'll be able to succeed or not, especially with you diet. I mean come on, what's the worst that could happen?

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About the Creator

Allison Brubacher

Positive

Happy

Vegan

Self growth enthusiast

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