Looking into your past
Hello everyone and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!! It blows my mind that we have said farewell to yet another wonderful year. For many, the new year is a time to start over and forget what’s behind. But this year, I challenge you to look into your past, and hold on to every moment that brought you joy and allowed you to be where/who you are now. In today’s post, I will be doing exactly that and rewinding you to the fall of 2016 when I officially became vegan.
Ok, so I said the fall of 2016, but really this journey started wayyy before that. It actually started at the end of 2015 as my 2016 goal. So before I begin, I would like to give you some background on my life. Ever since I was a little girl, I struggled with digestive issues. The doctor believed that it was normal for every kid to experience bloating and digestive malfunctions at some point in their life. So, like any doctor would do, they prescribed me medication and a digestive boosting powder to put in every drink I had in case the meds were not enough. Back then, I looked forward to taking my medication because I got to choose my favorite flavor-cherry. I remember getting sick and asking my mom for my “candy.” It was like a treat for me, and I soon forgot about my pain and instead looked forward to it. Crazy as it sounds, I was sort of addicted to it. Fast forward to freshman year of high school. For a good period in my life, I didn’t (or don’t remember) have any problems. It wasn’t until high school when I started to see signs again of what I remembered so well as a child. Trying to accept the fact that I probably would have to deal with this my entire life, I didn’t do anything about it. After many visits to urgent care, and getting diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, I decided to take action. So, being the curious me, I went straight to Pinterest and looked up ways to heal inflammation/digestive issues. It was amazing how many natural remedies there were.
Now, onto the journey that has brought me nothing but joy and happiness! Before I became vegan, and even before I started to completely change my diet, I started to try several natural remedies. I could go on and on about all the remedies that I tried, but I’m going to fast forward to the end of August, beginning of fall 2016. Even though most of the remedies I tried really did work, it didn’t solve the one problem I was trying to fix. After finding nothing else on Pinterest, I decided to go to YouTube. After following a raw vegan for a while and thinking that kind of diet was impossible for someone my age, I looked up health videos. Before I knew it, I was following a whole community of vegans, and I started to question my whole diet.
If you don’t know what being vegan is, it’s basically a diet consisting of no animal products. That includes, meat, dairy, eggs, fish, and honey. As I researched and continued to watch videos, I found that being vegan was actually really good, and I instantly got on board. I remember experimenting with my diet by cutting or adding things into my meals. For example, I cut out milk, chocolate, butter, yogurt, and cheese. Just by eliminating these five things from my diet, I began to feel much better. But, there were still days where I would feel sick again and not know why. Always going back to the vegans on youtube, I found that slowly cutting out dairy first, then meat, and finally fish was a good way to transition into a full vegan diet. I remember telling my mom that I wasn’t in the mood for chicken that night for dinner just to see if I felt any different. So, just eating a huge salad with lots of veggies on it, bread, and fruit for dessert, I felt amazing! I also remember my whole family watching me as I downed nothing but plants. They thought it was just a phase I was going through, and allowed me to continue on as long as I ate meat once or twice a week. Agreeing to this, I did just that- completely vegan meals on the weekends and for breakfast and lunch during the week, and eating a normal american diet for dinner. This is where my problem arose again. I would feel great on the weekends and after breakfast and lunch during the week, but once dinner hit, I got sick again. After another week or two of complaining to my parents about how I felt, I decided to slowly tell them that I wasn’t going to eat some of the stuff they made. I was nervous, and they didn’t like it at first either, but the day I told them I was officially becoming vegan, they said ok. But about two weeks into the transition, they started to ask me again when I was going to get over my phase and eat meat again.
This is when I had to be strong and ask God to give me strength. I prayed about it for a few days, and truly heard God telling me to be a vegan because it allowed me to feel better and live my life. So, there you have it. I have been a proud vegan for almost four months. As more and more people ask me why I became vegan, I simply tell them because it allows me to live a life where I feel good, and am able to spread love to everyone around me. I don’t call this a diet at all, I call it my lifestyle because I don’t think I will ever go back to the old life I lived. The one where I would cry every night in pain and pray that I would wake up and be able to go one day feeling better.
So what does this have to do with my new year’s resolution? It actually has to do with you-yes YOU! My new year’s resolution is to spread the love of God AND veganism. No, I’m not trying to pressure anyone into becoming a vegan, but what I am trying to do is this- Through veganism, I have been able to grow deeper in my faith, connect with more people, and feel more confident in who I am. There are many obstacles when you first become vegan, and some people don’t make it through all of them. They give up and go back to their old ways. Trusting in God, and accepting the fact that I had to get through the hard times to see the good times, allowed me to make it through. Community is so important to me, and when I found other vegans and friends who supported my choices, I was able to grow deeper relationships. Confidence. Something I have struggled with my whole life, but somehow found through God and being vegan. I was confident in the power of God as he helped me everyday in my transition, and confident in my body and myself as I felt stronger and healthier.
So this is what I want to encourage you all to do. Find something that you have wanted to do for so long, but haven’t because you were scared. If you have something on your heart, it’s probably from God, and in that case you should definitely go for it! It doesn’t matter what the world is going to say, because if you feel good about it and it pleases God, then that’s all that matters. Sooner or later people will realize what you’re doing is amazing and support you. So be you and live a life where you go to bed with a smile on your face.
Here is a verse that I think goes perfectly with my journey. 13 I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength
Philippians 4:13
Also, a quote that I live by:
“Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire” -Unknown
