Note: the paradoxes of being vegan that I discuss in this and subsequent posts are my own personal observations, and not necessarily universally applicable to all vegans
And if you haven't read paradoxes 1 or 2 yet (or have forgotten already because I wrote them so long ago), I'll link to them below.
Paradox #3:
- Being vegan has changed me completely
- Being vegan hasn't changed me at all
When I say that being vegan has changed me completely I don't just mean what I eat, wear, enjoy for entertainment and consume in other ways (although it includes all of that), but more that it has changed my mindset, my worldview, and my values. It has opened my heart (significant for someone who prefers logic and thinking) in a way that nothing else has, and it's increased my ability to feel compassion and empathy. And in an odd way, caring more about all living animals has allowed me to care more about human animals too. I'm a better person for being vegan and I'm thankful that I took the leap.
At the same time though, being vegan hasn't changed me one iota. In fact, it's probably just reinforced who I really am. Being vegan hasn't made me more patient, hasn't eradicated my quick temper, hasn't made me less reactive, and hasn't smoothed out the rough edges. I'm still quick to judge, am prone to snarkiness, love to come up with new ideas but am not great on follow-up (case in point being all the post topics I have thought up and promised but have yet to deliver, e.g., paradoxes 3, 4, and 5 were conceptualized eons ago), and I still feel like smacking people in the face for being such jackasses half the time even though I usually endorse a gentler approach.
What I think veganism does is magnify who you really are. It brings out your best and worst traits, illuminates whatever charming or not so charming personality quirks you possess, and brings to the fore your true values. In a sense, being vegan is a litmus test. Or maybe I'm just full of it? At any rate, being vegan gives you the wonderful opportunity to use your skills, interests and the unique qualities that make you YOU for the betterment of all, and that my friend, is quite cool.
Need to catch up with the other paradoxes? Here you go:
Paradox #2: as a vegan I've never been more at peace/more pissed off
Paradox #1: being vegan is easy/being vegan is hard
Yay! Another paradox! I love these! :) ... I'm not sure if I'll ever know for sure, but nothing about me is 100% the same since I have been vegan. The thing is, I became vegan in the middle of some HUGE life changes....moving to a country where I didn't know the language (and still have times where I don't understand or people don't understand me); living through the highest stress living environments I've ever lived through and having mental/emotional breakdowns that were probably serious enough at times to have qualified me for a hospital stay if I'd gone for professional help; a spiritual awakening that keeps coming in increments...the list goes on and on. And if I'd have stayed in my home environment, I do think eventually I'd have become vegan, but I'm not sure that I would have changed as much as I have. I see the world entirely differently, but I'm not sure it's from becoming vegan. That is the most IMPORTANT thing/change that has happened to me. But I, me personally, am very different from the person I was just a few years ago. There's been times in the past year where, had it been the "old" me, I really would have gotten into altercations...but I'm different now. And I guess I'll never know how much of that is simply from becoming vegan. But I think that most vegans probably really can honestly say "being vegan has changed me completely, and, being vegan hasn't changed me at all". I guess I took the long way of saying that it might depend on the circumstances in which we become vegan how much it changes us. Does that make sense? Probably not - my head is spinning as I type this! Snort! ... Yay again for paradoxes! These are really great posts!
Great post! I love the other two paradoxes also. I’m not sure that being vegan has brought out more of my bad qualities but I do believe it has reminded me to pay more attention to how I want to live which has helped to enhance my good qualities. For me the biggest paradox is one you mentioned earlier about being more at peace but at the same time angrier. Sometimes I wonder if I should be feeling so much better as a vegan. I now know more about how animals are treated and some days I feel a little guilty that I do feel so much better and my life is so much richer while I am now aware of all those who have lives of nothing but suffering. But then again, if I was angry all the time I wouldn’t exactly inspire anyone else to try veganism would I?
Love these paradox posts! It's pretty wild when you look at some of the issues from both ends of the spectrum. I think these are very real observations that vegans everywhere experience all the time - I know they really strike a chord with me. Thanks for sharing!
"What I think veganism does is magnify who you really are." Brilliant observation! For me I've never felt more authentic. It was like as if the hidden unchallenged "secrets" inside my head, soul and heart made "me" less me. It masked something without my even knowing it!
Will Tuttle's theories about living in our meat culture crystallized most of this for me... But that "magnifying who you really are" is the whole truth in a super-easy concept to embrace.
And at the time, for me it seemed like everything "clicked" in one moment when I got "animal rights". It was an "ah-ha! Eureka!" moment that immediately made sense to me... It *was* me - Or at least the discovery of what was missing. Can't say I haven't learned bunches since... Or re-aligned many views on tactics and goal setting - But the essential core is always there: I am more me now, then ever!
And I certainly will add this post (and this series) as another of those "ah-ha!" moments as well. Thanks for the experience and opportunity to self examine... and to listen to others do the same. You're a-okay have gone vegan! ;)
Reading all 3 parts of your paradox series is like holding up a mirror. I agree with all of it!! Very eloquently written. Thank you.
I can only say moving to living as a vegan felt like coming home. I knew this was the only way to live when I was a child, I didn't know the word for it...I just knew it was wrong to hurt animals. I succumbed to the lies of the world and hid that knowing from myself for many years, I recovered enough to live vegetarian for a couple of decades later on in my life and finally found all of me again after seeing Meet Your Meat. It was a painful and sorrowful reunion, recognizing all the harm I had done, for all those years, when I knew differently. So I guess I'm saying becoming vegan didn't change me, it returned me to being myself...and exposed the vicious things I had collaborated in because I had lost myself. So, a sad and sorrowful thing but...a happy thing to finally come home.