Unapologetically Vegan

It's Vegan Friday!

Today I wanted to chat with you about coming out and saying to people that you are vegan. I've been playing with the whole 'vegan at home, vegetarian when out' mantra (which is a fab start and don't get me wrong I'm proud of myself) but there's always the in-built excuse of eating dairy when I'm out because, hey, I never said I was 100% totally vegan.

For me, this feels like a cop-out, but it's coming from a place of wanting to stay honest. I feel like I can't say 'I'm vegan' because sometimes I do slip up, sometimes I'm working away and a meal has been ordered for me that has dairy in it, sometimes I'm hungry and under-prepared so I grab the first thing I find that's veggie.

Let's look at the actual definition of the word Vegan for a moment:

Veganism is a way of living which seeks to exclude, as far as is possible and practicable, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose.

This definition is from the Vegan Society, more information can be found here.

See how it says 'as far as possible and practicable'? A vegan lifestyle is never ever going to be perfect, so there's no need to hold back from saying 'I'm vegan' because you're not a perfect vegan. There are no perfect vegans. We don't need to apologise for the ways we slip up, the important thing is that we are trying.

I'm treating this as a reminder to myself that it's ok to tell people that I'm vegan even though I may still slip up sometimes. Affirming it to myself and others will hopefully keep me even more accountable to stay on this path. I feel another vegan documentary coming on soon...

There's something else too, there are all those sayings and stereotypes about the militant vegan and how we are always pushing our opinions down people's throats. I think part of my reluctance stems from not wanting to be seen under that light, but from this point onwards I'm going to try to stop caring about that. If people ask, I'll tell them, otherwise, I'll keep my mouth shut and get on with living my most compassionate life.

A youtuber I follow was recently talking about being unapologetic and that totally resonated with me. Why am I apologising for trying to do a good thing? So that's me, folks, unapologetically vegan. The only person's approval I care about is my own. The only standards I hold myself to are my own. Others can have opinions, sure, but they are none of my business.

When people remind us of all the ways in which our lifestyle is not vegan, it says more about them than us. I love the way people tease me for having leather shoes and bags (that I bought ages ago) while chowing down on a beef burger. Actually I don't love it I find it difficult, but when that happens in future I'll just think 'unapologetic' to myself and carry on as I was, doing my best. Showing with my actions that I do give a shit about this beautiful world that we live in.

Do let me know your thoughts on this. Did you find it easy to make the switch to 100% vegan? How do you deal with people pointing out your vegan inconsistencies? I would love to know. Let's chat.

As always, thank you so much for reading these musings of mine. If you want to stay in touch some more, I'm on instagram as @sexysobervegan. I want to create a tribe of amazing people, doing everything we can to live our best life, whatever that looks like for you.

All my love,

SSV x