My Journey Towards Veganism

Hi there! My name is Susie, and I’m here to spread awareness about the health benefits of a vegan lifestyle and the realities of the animal agriculture industry. I want to help others learn about what took me so long to accept — the fact that one cannot love animals and eat them, too. …a mighty hard pill to swallow, I agree. Though, after four years vegan this month, (and vegetarian three years prior to that), I stand true by my words more than ever.

During my senior year of high school, a close friend of mine went vegan. I didn’t really understand it, and the idea of not consuming animal flesh or secretions for every meal of the day genuinely scared the crap out of me.

In our friend group, Laura was the only vegan, but she never made a fuss about it. We would all try our best to accommodate her as we rotated houses to host get-togethers. Basically, we were all dumbfounded, but we respected her lifestyle.

Lessons From Laura

I began to look closer at the combinations of foods Laura consumed. She was always a fantastic cook (still is), and she made meals with foods I had never heard of. (She has always been a woman well beyond her years.)

I realized that her food was fabulous, a flavor explosion of tastes so foreign to my palate. It was a whole new world of eating. I started replicating her dishes and asking her for recipes. I tried her casseroles, stirfries, smoothies, baked goods, and wild concoctions I would never be so brave to attempt.

For special events, she would cook for me. On one birthday, she left oven-roasted butternut squash in my mailbox because I wouldn’t get to see her before her early flight out of state.

Laura was always fit. She ran daily, in every type of weather. She practiced yoga and attempted handstands everywhere she went (mostly on tall mountains in foreign countries). She totally flipped the script for me about veganism. She shattered the myths that had been fed to me over the years unknowingly.

She did this not through activism. She led by example. Laura was the catalyst that introduced me to this lifestyle. …One that would change my life for the better. …A way of life that would become an active part of my identity for many years to come. I didn’t know it at the time, though.

Vegan Community at Rutgers University

I transferred to Rutgers University in my junior year of college. I had chosen community college first to save money. During my first internship, I befriended a lovely human, Shea. She would change my life in more ways than I could imagine. She introduced me to the yoga club.

I ended up finding a wonderful community of individuals in the tightly-woven community. It didn’t take me long to realize that the majority of “regulars” were vegan or vegetarian.

I had never been in the same room with so many vegans before in my life. They looked like normal people — not malnourished, protein-deficient, nor pale like I had been led to believe.

These people appeared…healthy, but they were vegan?

I started learning a lot in a very brief time. From the health benefits of eating exclusively plant-based to everything wrong with meat, eggs, fish, and dairy. I was educated on the rampant abuse I had turned away from for so long. It was a lot to take in and understand. I became a sponge, absorbing it all.

By Thanksgiving of my junior year of college, I was vegan — no turning back! This was after 2 1/2 years of gradually decreasing my consumption of animal products as I carefully educated myself. It was a long journey, and I couldn’t be more grateful.

I went through my “angry vegan stage.” If you’re unfamiliar with the term, it’s basically a period of time where you are mad at the world for doing what they do…now that you have lifted the veil.

It becomes uncomfortable trying to explain yourself to others. Especially when you care about them and you know they love animals.

It isn’t easy.

I did lots of activism for a while, but stopped during Covid and haven’t picked it up since. I decided that writing online is my preferred form of activism and that everyone has their own strengths, which is perfectly okay!

Going vegan changed my life for the better, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Lucky for me, my mom and boyfriend are vegan, too!

You don’t need to go vegan overnight as many activists claim. Gradually decreasing your consumption of meat and dairy is the best way to make lasting change.

Happy 4-year Veganiversary to me! 🥦

I ended up finding a wonderful community of individuals in the tightly-woven community. It didn’t take me long to realize that the majority of “regulars” were vegan or vegetarian.

I had never been in the same room with so many vegans before in my life. They looked like normal people — not malnourished, protein-deficient, nor pale like I had been led to believe.

These people appeared…healthy, but they were vegan?

I started learning a lot in a very brief time. From the health benefits of eating exclusively plant-based to everything wrong with meat, eggs, fish, and dairy. I was educated on the rampant abuse I had turned away from for so long. It was a lot to take in and understand. I became a sponge, absorbing it all.

By Thanksgiving of my junior year of college, I was vegan — no turning back! This was after 2 1/2 years of gradually decreasing my consumption of animal products as I carefully educated myself. It was a long journey, and I couldn’t be more grateful.

I went through my “angry vegan stage.” If you’re unfamiliar with the term, it’s basically a period of time where you are mad at the world for doing what they do…now that you have lifted the veil.

It becomes uncomfortable trying to explain yourself to others. Especially when you care about them and you know they love animals.

It isn’t easy.

I did lots of activism for a while, but stopped during Covid and haven’t picked it up since. I decided that writing online is my preferred form of activism and that everyone has their own strengths, which is perfectly okay!

Going vegan changed my life for the better, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Lucky for me, my mom and boyfriend are vegan, too!

You don’t need to go vegan overnight as many activists claim. Gradually decreasing your consumption of meat and dairy is the best way to make lasting change.

Happy 4-year Veganiversary to me! 🥦

If you liked this piece and wish to support me, you can buy me a kombucha here. : )
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Previously Published on medium

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