The Joyful Vegan

But what does it look like to become vegan? What did I become when I became vegan? Was there really a difference between the pre-vegan me and the post-vegan me? Prior to being vegan, I considered myself a compassionate person living a compassionate life—even advocating for animals in my way. But, in truth, my actions were not fully in alignment with my self-perception. In truth, I was not really living my life according to my deepest values—the values I’ve held dear since I was a child and that defined me as a person. I would never have intentionally hurt another living being, yet I was paying others to do it for me. Reading the personal accounts of slaughterhouse workers who abused, dismembered, tortured, and killed animals as a matter of routine shook me to my core and out of my slumber.

Becoming vegan was my metamorphosis into unconditional, unfettered, unabashed compassion. That is to say, when I became vegan, my deepest ethics became reflected in my daily choices, and the process was
as natural and effortless as is the process for a caterpillar becoming a butterfly or a seed becoming a flower. Of course, births—and rebirths—are also messy and painful and not without their challenges, but they’re always worth the trouble in the end.