Why you should find your vegan community

If you become vegan you embark on a journey that will just about change your life. It can be a rollercoaster of emotions and experiences. Becoming vegan can be exciting, eye-opening and rewarding but also stressful, disheartening and heart-breaking. Most vegans go through two intense phases before finding their personal emotional balance and coping strategy. Let’s look into them and explore why it’s a good idea to find your vegan community.

Everybody would be vegan if…

Every vegan had that one key moment in their life that made them decide to become vegan. It’s a very individual starting point that can be based in animal cruelty, health or environmental issues. Some people go vegan straightaway after seeing horrific footage from the meat and dairy industry.

Others might receive a devastating medical diagnosis that prompts them to change their lifestyle by 180 degrees. And others might learn about the massive impact of meat and dairy farming on the environment and decide to stop being part of the problem.

Whatever the initial personal motivation is, we all like to think “if only everybody knew about this, they’d all go vegan, too”. That’s when we begin to share our knowledge and findings, usually with great enthusiasm and sometimes a little too much harshness for other people’s tastes.

We can’t comprehend why someone else who we convince to watch Earthlings with us doesn’t immediately switch to veganism, too. How can someone who’s on 10 pills a day to lower their cholesterol, blood pressure and blood clotting factors not become plant based immediately once you show them the numerous studies supporting a plant based vegan diet for health?

You just happened to have found that information first, you made the change for yourself and now you’re the messenger who brings the good news to the village. But no one gives a damn. And that’s where your enthusiastic phase ends and the second phase begins.

Humanity is lost and I’m fighting windmills

The more people reject your advances and good intentions, the more you’ll feel disheartened. Especially if it’s family members, good friends or other people you deeply care about, your frustration will become unbearable.

The frustration can turn into anger and even deep resentment. It’s not uncommon to lose some friends and cut ties with not so close family members during this phase of being vegan.

Especially the “real vegans”, that is those who are vegan for the animals, might not be able to tolerate being among non vegans for social occasions. Dating somebody non vegan will be totally out of the question.

If you’re “only vegan for health”, then you might not feel so strongly about all of this. The frustration of not being able to save your loved ones will however be there. As a vegan environmentalist you might also feel very strongly about others not joining in.

After all you see what their lifestyle is doing to the planet and you can’t fathom how they can destroy even their own offspring’s future. Whatever your main vegan topic is, the feeling of fighting windmills is all too common in the vegan community. Therefore, maybe it’s time to find your tribe?   

Find your vegan community

If you don’t have any vegan friends or family members you can quickly feel like you’re the only person in the world who even cares about all these issues. But you’re not! There are millions of you all around the world. You just need to find them and connect. In today’s digitalised world, it’s easier than ever to connect with other vegans.

You can find local or international groups in social media platforms or in designated forums. Pretty much anywhere, where people come together there will be a sub group of vegans trying to find each other. There might be a vegan pot luck in your town that’s waiting for you to join in. You could even join a vegan couchsurfing group and welcome new vegan friends into your home or stay in theirs.

Or you join some vegan travellers and explore the vegan possibilities all around the world together. Even on dating apps these days you can often filter for specific lifestyle forms, veganism of course being one of them.

Don’t lose yourself – stay sane within the vegan community

On a psychological level it is very important to find like-minded people. Because the phase of losing faith in humanity can even lead to depression. But you can save yourself and focus on the progress that society does in fact make.

Veganism pops up at every corner in many countries these days. If it doesn’t where you live, then go out into the world and see for yourself. Things are slowly changing and will further change for the better in the near future. For your own sanity, however, tune into yourself and don’t ignore your instincts.

You’ll feel when you’re strong enough to take out the pitchfork and fight. Your gut feeling will tell you whether it’s worth it or not in a given situation. And you’ll also feel it when you need to retreat and focus on things that make you happy and give you positive energies.

The downside of the vegan community

Lastly, be aware that the vegan community is a big bunch of very individual people. As said in the beginning, everyone has their very own reason for being vegan, which can lead to disagreement and arguments even among vegans. As we all know, online communities in particular can be a harsh environment, full of judgement and personal attacks. The vegan community online is no exception to this.

There will always be someone who is “more vegan” than you and exude the whole holier-than-thou vibe. Don’t get into arguments with them, just let them be. They’re hiding behind a keyboard and have no idea about you and your life.

So, find your tribe and pick your friends carefully, just like you would in any non vegan context. Vegan life is just amazing when you’re around the right people!