My names Tilly, I’m 21 and I live with my partner Liam in the South West of England.
We’ve both been vegans for 16 months now, before this I was vegetarian for 2 years and before that I’d had meat with practically every meal, in all honesty it didn’t feel right without it.
Even though I loved meat I was always affected by animals being harmed, to the extent of crying as a child if anyone swatted a fly. Despite this I would never let myself associate meat with ‚murder‘, I was living in complete cognitive dissonance.
Then one evening after having a conversation with a vegetarian friend I decided to force myself to view what I had avoided for years, countless videos of animal abuse in slaughterhouses, battery cages and the dairy industry. I sat in floods of tears all night while I dug further and further, learning everything I could and then something just clicked inside of me.
The next morning my aunt made me a bacon sandwich but I decided I didn’t want to eat it, from then on I decided I would prefer not to eat meat. Something changed in my head, what once looked appealing showed it’s true nature. Dead flesh of an animal that in the last moments of its life felt only terror, pain and loneliness.
My favourite thing in life was cheese. As a child my mum would always make me mac and cheese as a comfort food. It wouldn’t be shocking to find I had eaten a whole block of cheddar to myself!
Initially Veganism for me was very difficult, I didn’t aim for it within the first couple of months, although it was in the back of my mind.
How can I stop eating meat and then be ok with consuming other animal products? It didn’t make sense. So again one day I tried to learn as much as I could to deter me from eating dairy. I was also advised by my doctor to strip back my diet after some health issues, they assumed I would be intolerant to something. I completely cut out animal products and gluten, it was great and I had never felt so well in my life… but it didn’t last.
I probably attempted veganism 2 or 3 times before it actually stuck, I am certainly not going to pretend that it’s easy for everyone. It’s a massive shell shock to the system but it’s a positive change, so I didn’t want to give up.
I met my partner and he was also vegetarian, together we watched documentaries like Vegucated and Cowspiracy. Then on new years 2016 we took the plunge.
We’re lucky that our town has a great market so we manage to buy all of our fresh fruit and veg cheap. Growing up I would hide my veg in a napkin, at the dinner table and bin it after rather then dare to eat a carrot but now I adore so many things like spinach, bananas, nuts, tofu and mushrooms. Knowing nothing has had to be killed for my pleasure in the making is a bonus!
Don’t get me wrong, although I feel better mentally and physically, we can still have crappy days where we binge on all of the unhealthy stuff.
If I choose to have a family, I’ll raise my family as vegan. I think it teaches us to be responsible for our actions, to be selfless, to love deeply and have compassion for all.
I’m still in the early days of veganism in comparison to others but it feels completely normal to me now and I can’t not see a single reason to turn back. Peace!
