A guide on How To Be Vegan And Keep Your Friends that I am sure all new vegans need!
There are a lot of things that you need to consider when you decide to go vegan. Unfortunately, vegans don’t have a good rep, people tend to associate vegans as highly judgmental people.
It can be true for some vegans, but it’s most certainly not true for every vegan.
Now, I will speak from my own experience. I was working as a chef at the time I decided to go vegan, and these are the questions that popped into my mind when I was thinking of going vegan.
1. How Can I Be Vegan And Keep My Friends?
2. What Would My Chef Colleagues & Boss Think Of Me Being Vegan? – Will I Lose My Job?
3. What Will My Family Think About Me Being Vegan?
4. What The Heck Am I Going To Eat As A Vegan?
5. How Will I Be Able To Eat Out As A Vegan?
6. Is Veganism Expensive?
And a couple more. I have got answers now for every single one of those questions since I am 5+ years down the line of being vegan, so I have tried/tested and seen it all.
However, the purpose of this guide today is about How To Be Vegan And Keep Your Friends – so this is what we will be discussing with you today.
So, How Do You Go Vegan And Keep Your Friends?
So, this is how I did it. I just went vegan and told my friends. Simple as that. I said to myself “If they are really my friends, they will support me in my decisions.”
My strategy was to not push my beliefs onto my friends, this was ultimately my decision….for me! Not for my friends, so I don’t think I had any right to try to push my view on things like veganism on them.
I surely explained everything about veganism and WHY I chose to go vegan, but I certainly didn’t say “You should all go vegan, because it’s the best thing to do.” I can’t do that. I feel like preaching to others to become vegans if like preaching to people to take a certain religion. Leave them be, leave them to make their own minds. You just tell them the facts, and why you are doing it, but just don’t try to force your beliefs.
And I will tell you what, I didn’t lose a single friend, they were all very supportive, and they even made my vegan desserts. Was good! It was all good.
However, my colleagues at work didn’t take it very well ( I was a chef, remember) So, I was constantly made fun of and all that. But this is all a story for another day.
Don’t Be Scared To Lose Friends Just Because Of Your Views On Life!
I can’t express enough the importance of standing by your own decisions and thoughts. Yes, we are very social creatures, yes we want to be liked, yes we want to fit in, but that doesn’t mean you have to mold yourself into something you are not, just to please others.
At the end of the day, all you got is yourself, when you are in a difficult situation when you go to work when you study when you are doing your exams – you are on your own. What you are eating, how you act, what your morals are…this is you, this is up to you. Yes, people will come along to way and will try to influence you, and shape you into what they want you to be, but don’t forget that you are special, and being you, being what you want to be is the best thing you can do for yourself.
The Bottom Line:
If you want to go vegan, just go for it. If your friends are truly your friends, they will understand and support you, heck some of them might even join your journey to veganism?
Have fun, and don’t overthink things!
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