After a chaotic year that we just had, one would hope lessons have been learnt and gifts have been received.
One of the things I wish more people realized is the importance of eating plant-based foods and avoiding animal slavery and exploitation.
The chances of COVID-19 occurring would be almost nonexistent were we a society that lived ethical lives without murdering the innocent. It turns out, eating corpses is not as good as we are told constantly.
If you were touched by the stories of people who survived and you wish to see less suffering in the future, consider eating fewer animal products in 2021.
Not only is eating plant-based the best thing we can do for our health, but it’s the best thing we can do for the environment as well. I won’t even talk about animal suffering because everyone knows you have to take a life to eat a steak or drink milk.
There are countless reasons why one could go vegan, but there are only a handful of steps needed to make it a reality.
Here are a few helpful tips if you agree that 2021 is the perfect year to go vegan:
- Know your why.
Transitioning to a more plant-based lifestyle will be easier if you know why you are doing it.
Now, I will not judge you if you simply want to eat more healthy foods or lose weight, but you will need a bigger reason to stay vegan when shit gets tough.
What made you consider the change? How did you feel about this new information you received? Go deep in the emotion you felt right after the thought of trying this lifestyle popped into your head.
Remember, things will get hard at times – maybe your loved ones won’t support your decision, you might get bullied, or the stress makes you less motivated to continue what you started – and you will need a damn good reason to not give up.
- Set goals.
I don’t believe becoming vegan is so much of a goal as it is a bonus to one’s already compassionate life. It’s not like voila you are vegan and you can die happy now.
You just add a few things and take those that are not working out; you improve; you evolve.
But to do these things we need to know what we want to change, take out and add to our lives. We need goals and a to-do list that we can have as inspiration or a reminder for what matters to us.
What are you willing to do today, to start this journey? How can you courageously take the first step? What would, in your opinion, be a good second step? The third one?
Can you visualize your path for the next 12 months? Write down your goals, what you want to do to make progress, and start slow.
Start wherever you feel most comfortable at.Â
It’s much easier to achieve goals if we don’t just jump in without a parachute. Most of us will need to have a plan beforehand. That’s okay.
- Create boundaries.
In an ideal world, people would be happy when we decide to expand our compassion. But we don’t live in an ideal world.
Here, people mock us, bully us, belittle us, and sometimes they even leave us. Not wanting to support the abuse of other animals is seen as strange, unwelcome and distant.
If you want to get through the first few months of being the weirdo without losing your sanity, boundaries need to be created. I wrote about this topic here, because it needs a whole post for itself, not just a few sentences.
As long as we abuse non-human animals, we will abuse each other.Â
It’s no coincidence that a majority of serial killers start practising their violent acts on other animals, a lot of them work at slaughterhouses, and domestic violence is not always only a problem between two adult humans, but pets get hurt too.
Looters and rioters in the US abused non-human animals to get on TV, thinking that torturing horses and puppies will convince people to stop being racist. Celebrities defended wearing fur because… racism, apparently.
We will never solve racism, homophobia or sexism if our lives consist of paying for slavery, exploitation, rape, abuse, torture and murder of pigs, cows, goats, fish, apes and millions of other species.
It’s not a coincidence that prejudiced people compare those they dislike to other animals (pigs, monkeys, rats, snakes). As long as non-human beings are seen as dirty, bad and dangerous, we will continue comparing those we hate to them.Â
On the other hand, if we learn to see all beings as our cousins with whom we share DNA, we will be capable of seeing individuals who belong to our species as equal to us.
If we are against violence, we cannot look past how our food gets on the plate and how our clothes are made.Â
Just like my favorite mantra says: Peace begins with me.Â
If you want to create a sustainable vegan lifestyle please make sure you are following me on Pinterest and Instagram. I share my best tips and tricks daily.
Tanja
