When I first became vegan I was more than proud to shout about it. I was passionate to share all of the new facts I'd learned about animal agriculture, the health of people and the environment. Determined to help spread the word about veganism in any way imaginable.
That lasted a good few months. I'm approximately 10 months into being vegan now and I've reached a point where I'm aready tired of calling myself a vegan.
I'm sick of the judgmental, elitist attitudes in this community. Sick of the constant pressure vegans put on one another to never make 'mistakes' or to 'better' ourselves (that, to me, implies we aren't good enough and need to improve...what about people who don't want that pressure because they have enough to deal with in their lives without having to worry about who approves of their character?). I'm done wanting to deal with the 'vegan police' who nit-pick and attack people who aren't 'vegan enough'. Who claim you're making excuses or being unreasonable if you have no choice but to buy a non vegan product, take non vegan meds or something similar.
Fact is, NOBODY is ever going to be 100% vegan.
What I loathe the most is the implication from some vegans that a vegan diet cures all illness and diseases. That all you have to do is eat fruit and veg and wham, you're cured. That is something I find absolutely atrocious.
The ablesim in this community is well and truly alive which is disgusting and disappointing.
You might say 'just don't listen to those people'. You might say 'ignore them' or something similar. I don't want to have to keep doing that. I want to be able to be happy in my life and I have enough struggles without constantly feeling like those people will be there in the background ready to attack or judge me if I accidentally do something they don't approve of. I don't want it full stop.
I don't want to label myself anymore as anything for the sake of pleasing anyone, especially not a few people whose decision to approve of me is based on what 'level' of vegan I am. Like I said, I'm doing my best and I have enough to deal with in my life.
So what does this mean?
I'm going to re-brand and change the handles of this blog, my youtube, twitter and instagram to another name I feel more comfortable with.
It doesn't mean I'm going to go eat or buy all the animal products out there from here on. No, not necessarily.
I'm still going to eat a vegan diet for the most part but I'll be taking non vegan meds and sometimes I'll choose a vegetarian option. I MIGHT also sometimes use non vegan products (but ALWAYS from cruelty free brands).
I will still post vegan recipes on here and I will ALWAYS include cruelty free/vegan brands. (That is something I have always done anyway!)
I just want to not feel like I have to live up to these high expectations whether they are placed on me or not. I'm sorry if you're not able to understand that.
I'm sorry if you feel I'm contradicting myself or not 'trying hard enough' or anything else.
As I stressed in this post, my aim was never to be a 'perfect' vegan. I never made any promises of the sort when I began all of this. I personally think it is far more important to encourage people to eat less meat, dairy and eggs than it is to be an angry, aggressive militant bully who shames people for even trying to be vegan because they're not doing it 'good enough'. That kind of nonsense is why I want to disassociate myself from all this as much as I do.
I'm sorry if this causes anyone disappointment or makes anybody angry with me. I'm sorry if I'm not 'vegan enough' for you. I'm sorry if you're upset or offended.
I'm going to do my best and not label myself anymore because that's what's good enough for me.
*EDIT: Since writing this post I have received some comments/messages about my decision. I appreciate people wanting to show me support but I ask that you respect my decision and do not offer me advice unless I ask you for it specifically. Thank you.
