My Two Year Anniversary as a Vegan
My journey has been both spiritual and healthy; I couldn’t be happier
On September 22nd, 2022, as I switched off the documentary What The Health on Netflix, a decision was made. After 44 years of being a vegetarian, I was officially ready to go vegan.
I didn’t come to this decision lightly, though. It had been brewing in the back of my mind for a little over 4 weeks; I had slowly changed my nutrition to embrace more whole foods, even while cutting out animal foods from my heavily-dairy-laden Indian diet.
As my health improved, my awareness grew and continued to expand as I dove deeper into the ethical, environmental, spiritual and humane aspects of going plant-based.
Life as a vegan was challenging in the beginning. Explaining to people that I didn’t eat milk (or butter or yogurt or ghee, an Indian staple!) was more difficult than I’d imagined. But, I received tremendous support from three key sets of people: my immediate family- my husband and daughter; my parents and my in-laws. Somehow, that made it easier to stay vegan.
The Guiding Principle Behind Change
All change comes at the time that makes the most sense to us. But the changes that stick all have one powerful thing in common — an extremely determined why.
For me, that ‘why’ was very clear at first — I needed to get healthy. Going plant-based helped me in more ways than I could imagine
Two Years Later
I can honestly confirm that this decision transformed more things than my health alone.
Being vegan, while a huge part of my identity, is also just one part of it. I believe that it has helped me embrace learning and wisdom from a deeper perspective, making me a better writer, a better spouse and a better parent in the process.
Every time I read an article about people who have been vegan or have turned vegan, it makes my heart glad. There are a million ways to leave our mark on this planet and perhaps doing our bit in this tiny way can make a difference.
