Vegetarianism and veganism have always appealed to me. Not as something that I could ever do in practice, but definitely as something that all of the “cool people” were doing. I’m not exactly sure why I felt that way. Plant based diets have been trendy for a while in mainstream pop culture, and are often seen as “healthier” (read: skinnier) which was more en vogue, especially during the 90’s and 00’s. Being vegan started to seem kind of “hardcore,” but in an attainable way. The animal advocacy aspect seemed cool to me as well. I loved doing things to be different.

Badu, Andre 3000, and Morrissey were all vegan, and when I was growing up, they were, to me, the picture of what was cool. Being vegan seemed rebellious and unique when I was younger, but it also seemed super hard to do, adding to its elusiveness in my mind. Although celebrity culture is beginning to wane these days, I still see that plenty of content creators and “influencers” are vegan, and many wear the label like a badge of honor. Of course they’re proud, but it can sometimes come off as a brag to outsiders. I initially became a vegetarian so I could flex. I wanted to be in the club, and to rock “Go Veg!” stickers on my devices. I wanted to do it so I could flaunt my moral superiority.

I started out as a vegetarian, years ago. I had a really easy time sticking with it, because I saw this video called “Meet Your Meat.” The knowledge and the visuals were burned into my mind, I couldn’t unsee it. I found it so easy that I was a vegetarian for 7 years before my switch to eating “local, pasture raised meat only” devolved over the course of 1.5 years back into the standard American diet, complete with fast food, which is the furthest thing from pasture raised as you can get.

After a year and a half of meat eating, and few months into a hardcore Wing Stop obsession, I was feeling depressed. I decided that I needed to “glow up.” I became a vegetarian again overnight, and I started to feel better, but I had this chip on my shoulder still, and I knew that it was not enough. I knew that I “needed” to become vegan to have the kind of glow up that I wanted to have. I wanted big changes to occur inside of my heart and mind, and I thought that maybe I could activate this change by making big changes to my lifestyle.

Cutting meat is already difficult for most of us, but I had a really hard time cutting out eggs, and cutting dairy felt impossible. Give up cheese? Fffffffffffffffffffff- OK. I knew it was “bad for me,” full of sugar and hormones, and inflammatory as hell, but did I care about that? At that time I believed that cheese made everything taste better.

Knowing how hard it was to stick with a vegan diet made me want to do it even more. The reasons would occasionally fall by the wayside, and the only thing left was the challenge of it. Every time I slipped up, I restarted. I had to! Can you imagine the amount props I would get?! I knew in these moments that I HAD to become a vegan, if for no other reason than for clout. People don’t often admit that this can be a motivation to do something.

This wasn’t the only reason… of course not! Sometimes it was because I wanted to lose weight, or often it was all part of being a “good person.^TM” Other times it was simply because I’d just watched/heard/read about another atrocity pertaining to animal cruelty, climate change, or human rights violations in factory farms. It was absolutely all of that, but also, at the very, very beginning, deep down… I was doing it for clout. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I can admit this because it’s the truth! It doesn’t matter what brought me here, because what matters is that 6 years later, I’m still vegan. I eat healthier than I ever did on the standard American diet, and I also have plenty of reasons for being vegan, and none of those reasons now are for clout. As I educated myself on the many reasons to become and stay vegan, I got deeper invested in the many issues that animal agriculture contributes to on a global scale. These reasons have made it easier to stay vegan, and have made me understand why vegans often wear the label with pride.

Now I’m older, I’m not necessarily that much wiser, but I think that I’ve aged out of caring so much about things like clout (thank god), or other people’s props or judgement. Knowing what I know now about animal agriculture, my reasons for staying vegan make me feel proud to live this way. This isn’t about clout, because living in line with your morals feels good on a personal level. I am just doing what I want to do with my life. Feeling happy with your choices eliminates the need for clout. You don’t need external approval when you already approve of yourself.

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If you’ve just read this post and are wondering what my reasons are for being vegan now, stay tuned! I’m working on making shorter posts (I can be so long winded at times). I’ve decided to divide these into separate posts, and my reasons for being vegan is coming up next.

Photo by Vegan Liftz from Pexels