What is the vegan lifestyle? Your Questions Answered

It’s no secret that vegans are slowly starting to grow in numbers all around the world, and with this is incredible news more people like you are curious about the movement. The vegan lifestyle is one of ethics, sustainability and compassion, but the honest truth is a lot more sobering than that!

undefined

What Does The Vegan Lifestyle Mean?

In the most simple terms, the vegan lifestyle is one of minimising the amount of unnecessary harm done to other beings. This is an on-going, conscious effort that affects dietary choices, clothing and many more areas of life.

This can make the transition into veganism difficult especially when considering the fact that animal harm is involved in nearly every sector of society either directly or indirectly, so in essence, it’s impossible to be 100% ethical, compassionate and sustainable, but understanding that is part of becoming a fully integrated vegan who strives to do the best they can while also prioritising their own well-being.

In an ideal world, the vegan lifestyle is one where you co-exist with sentient beings without harming any of them in any way, but the obvious truth is that even we vegans are responsible for the deaths of a countless number of beings on this planet, so is there truly a vegan lifestyle?

Generally speaking the vegan lifestyle today is still quite similar to any other ordinary person but switch animal products for vegan alternatives. The first stage of veganism is recognising that the food on your plate had a life of its own and didn’t deserve to die if it didn’t have to.

This thought process usually comes about in one of two ways these days. Watching a documentary that highlights the unfortunate truths behind the meat industry, or someone has a gut feeling from a young age urging them to care for animals rather than eat them.

These are both realisations of compassion which tie directly into the philosophy of veganism. On the other hand some people cut out all animal products to improve their health, and some do so in order to help reduce their carbon footprint.

In a sense all 3 reasons are acts of compassion, whether for animals, your own body or for the environment, so an argument can be made that they are all living the vegan lifestyle. This may be a controversial take, but heated debates and online arguments are almost in opposition to promoting veganism.

Although I certainly understand the burning desire to stop unnecessary animal harm, and I have been there, angry, confused and resentful when I see a dead animal being held like a trophy, its totally obvious that people aren’t going to give it up just because you told them all the negative consequences of their actions.

What’s more compassionate is to show love even to those who still consume meat and be someone who’s secure enough to share information without getting angry or annoyed when people mock or belittle you. I think the idea of shoving veganism down throats is doing more harm than good and makes the entire movement seem like all vegans are just millennials with identity issues, rather than showing that vegans want to shine a light on the issue of global selfishness.

Compassion vs selfishness

Let me ask you a few quick-fire questions to elaborate:

How selfish are you, honestly?
How much compassion do you have for humans outside your circle?
How much compassion do you have for animals?
Do you care at all about anything that doesn’t directly and immediately affect you?
Do you care about future generations?

In most cases, you should recognise that your current lifestyle and mindset are reflective of your answers. However, this may not be the case for example many people are animal lovers but consume meat. I don’t really understand how that works but it’s definitely common.

The more compassionate you are the lower your level of selfishness and this directly correlates to your lifestyle and daily choices. And that’s what makes living a vegan lifestyle difficult because we’re all selfish to some degree.

Extending your compassion beyond yourself, and your family is hard enough for most people, now your asking people to care about animals? Yeah, it’s gonna be a tough sell. Vegans should not be surprised but should be role models for what vegans can look like when fully integrated and compassionate to all humans too.

What Are Different Types Of Vegans?

Today there seem to be 3 primary types of vegans and many smaller categories that spring off from their. There’s Vegan For The Animals, Vegan For Health and Vegan For The Environment. Some people align with just 1 or a mixture of all 3. This results in a wide variety of vegan lifestyles all of which revolve around the consumption and utilisation of plants over animals.

Some vegans leverage their new mindset to enact change in the world, to boost their health and fitness, or just to be more compassionate and selfless. All of which are great things to strive for. If you want to become vegan or are already vegan don’t feel afraid to jump into all 3 categories as in my opinion the combination of all 3 results in the most fulfilling life as a vegan.

You can inform the world about veganism and the positive impact it has on the animals or the environment or their health or all 3 wrapped up in one. You can start a business that fills in one of the many gaps that are still waiting to have a vegan-friendly option.

You can start learning how to cook delicious vegan recipes, to nourish you and your family or to share with the world as I do P.S you can find some easy beginner recipes over here http://www.alldayplantbased.com/best-vegan-recipes-for-beginners/! All in all the vegan lifestyle has endless opportunities for inner fulfilment and you can pair veganism with other aspects of life to create new and unseen combinations.

Veganism and spirituality have been working together for thousands of years and help people enjoy a clear and healthy mind, what will be your combination?

Combining Vegan Idealism with Vegan Realism

As we’ve discussed today, there is an ideal vegan lifestyle, and a realistic vegan lifestyle, but we can always aim to reach idealism whilst staying grounded in reality. I believe we can find ways to reduce our negative impact on all the other friends we are sharing this planet with

Even if it is truly impossible to completely end their needless suffering. It’s a tough rope to balance on, but as long as we are making progress towards caring about more than our own backs, then we are doing good!

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as I enjoyed writing it! If you like these more laid-back conversational-style blogs you’re in luck because I’ll keep them coming. Have a lovely day and stay safe.