Do you remember your big vegan fail? That time you made a huge mistake that was not vegan-friendly? I sure remember mine.
There are plenty of them, too.
I am writing this today to remind you that every vegan has made mistakes and failed at times. No one is perfect and everyone has a story, or five, about how they fucked it up in the past.
I hope that through sharing my vegan failures you learn how not to repeat them, and if you do repeat them, to learn from them.
It doesn’t matter how many times you fail, as long as you learn the lesson and do not repeat the same mistake twice. Or if you do it twice, you at least admit it to yourself and take responsibility.
So here is my big vegan fail and other mistakes I’ve made:
- For the first 4 years of my vegan journey, I consumed bread corn sticks that contained powdered milk. Not often, but I did love them and the reason why this happened will surprise you. I asked the baker twice if it contained eggs or milk and she said it did not. Twice! I trusted her for four years before the internet saved me when I googled the ingredients one afternoon.
- While waiting for my psychiatric appointment, I stumbled upon a terrarium. I completely blacked out somehow because I went in and looked around without registering that it was against my moral code. To this day I don’t know what came over me.
- I was so in love with this man that I believed him when he said that he was vegan too. So when his mother made pumpkin strudel and gave it to me, I didn’t question the ingredients. Now, I don’t know if it was not vegan, but I assume that when he lied about being plant-based for the whole 11 months of our so-called friendship, he probably lied about other things as well.
- For about a year into being vegan, I continued killing spiders. I know, this might be the worst one of them all because I did it consciously. Afterwards, I started giving them names and stopped seeing them as my enemy. Now, they live above my head and I don’t bother them and they don’t bother me.
Can you relate? Let me know in the comment section if you do.
I repeat once again: It doesn’t matter how many times you fail, as long as you get up and learn from your mistakes.
Life is not about perfection. Not at all. It is, however, about progress and constant movement towards improvement.
You got this, lovely.
If you feel called to support my work, consider buying me a cup of cappuccino. It helps me greatly.
Tanja
