This isn’t going to be one of those stories where I write about the time I watched a troubling documentary and deciding I wanted to become an animal rights activist nor is it a story about bearing witness to harrowing images and being convinced that “vegan is caring” by a very persuasive Facebook video. This is a REAL story about a REAL experience I once had in the fall of June last year which changed my life in many ways. This is my vegetarian story.

My journey really began months before what I like to call ‘The Incident’ with a few of my friends being vegans already. We used to spend a lot of our free time discussing our views on environmental impacts and soon discovered we had a lot in common. We would spend hours on end bouncing ideas off each other and exchanging links to pages and videos we thought we’d like.

It wasn’t until I was preparing dinner for my then partner and I when things became very real all of a sudden. I was going about my business, slicing vegetables and cutting chicken when I discovered a small piece of kidney attached to the bone. (For those of you who don’t already know, I quiver at the sight of offal). The unwanted attachment was quite securely fastened so out came a larger knife – then a hammer and i’m sure you can picture what happened next.

I was so repulsed by the idea that I had to completely masacre a piece of bone to get rid of something that was naturally supposed to exist there. I pushed the half prepared meal to one side and decided I couldn’t eat something that was once alive and healthy – thus the beginning of my vegetarian journey.

I quite happily survived just over a year with nil temptation before things began to take a turn for the worst. My plant based lifestyle was in jeopardy as I was thrown into the world of convenience whilst on holiday with friends. I began to develop a craving for meat – which was unusual for me as I’d never been a very big meat eater to begin with. Eventually I gave in and it wasn’t long before I was eating it on a regular basis.

After numerous attempts to go back to the way things were, I discovered that my views on the subject had changed and I was no longer a passionate vegetarian like I used to be.

I have since taken some time to re-evaluate my beliefs and re-discover my moral passions of which I once ignored. I am currently a Pesco-Pollo Vegetarian whom only eats chicken and fish. I make a conscious effort to minimise my meat intake as much as possible whilst not avoiding it entirely.

The battle between morality and convenience is something I may always struggle with as I continue to build strong beliefs. The next phase of my journey will be spent focusing on establishing a positive lifestyle and creating a healthy mind, body and soul.

Much love,

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