I went vegan for a month at Ohio Northern University.
The best way to describe this experience is through the five stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance). This article concerns the fifth stage, acceptance.
February 28th felt like graduation.
I was excited, I was happy, I was unsure, I was sad, I was grateful that it happened, but I was still figuring out what had happened.
What an experience. I could have never imagined the amount of personal growth and reflection that would occur over the past month.
As I was grappling to conceptualize my veganism journey, I started to realize something powerful: it wasn’t that hard to be a vegan anymore.
Yes, that’s right. The very thing I have complained about for the past four articles. It had become second nature.
Don’t get me wrong, the structure of veganism is tough. Eating salads without ranch is tough, avoiding every meat-contaminated dish in Mac is tough, not being able to eat the same food as your friends is tough, the list goes on and on. The challenges remained the same, but my mindset had changed. I had accepted that I was vegan.
There’s something nice about accepting a challenge for what it is. Fully embracing the hardship as part of doing what is right. I wasn’t sure if I would ever reach this feeling of peace with veganism. A lot of the days felt like war. However, somewhere within that month, I sat down in Mac with the same, boring, repetitive vegan meal, but it didn’t bother me the way it had before. Not even the torture of having a dietary restriction at Mac could reach me anymore.
That being said, I learned a lot of lessons through veganism that transcend the 28 days of this experiment. First of all, the Ohio Northern dining halls need to be more considerate of vegan diets and honestly every single other dietary restriction too. While I only had to suffer through 28 days of Mac on a dietary restriction, some students have to do this for their entire college experience. For them it’s not a choice, and what they have to endure in that dining hall is cruel and unusual punishment.
Second, society needs to majorly reshape our perception of veganism. The amount of adverse reactions I received when I told someone about my veganism was astonishing. I quickly realized that people hate when others go against the grain. It makes them uncomfortable because it forces them to look within themselves and reevaluate their own belief systems. Unfortunately for nonvegans, “I eat meat because I like it” is a hard position to defend. I guess it should have been no surprise when people became immediately defensive after I told them I was vegan.
Lastly, we need to advocate for better food equality and representation in our society. Experiencing a dietary restriction for the first time in my life was absolutely ground shattering. I cannot believe that people have to spend their entire lives facing the constant disappointment and frustration of not having options that are safe to eat. This is heartbreaking, and I have so much newfound respect for restaurants and companies that are working to ensure everyone, regardless of dietary needs, can eat.
While I refuse to accept the status quo on these issues, I do accept that change takes time. These problems cannot be fixed overnight, but the more voices advocating for change the better chance we have to see improvements made within our lifetimes.
I went vegan for a month at Ohio Northern University and it was a life changing experience. Through the stages of denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance, I wouldn’t change any moment of my veganism journey.
While I did decide to end my consistent veganism diet on February 28th, I have continued to be vegetarian, and I found that this is a more suitable diet for my current lifestyle. Once I am off of an ONU meal plan, I look forward to revisiting veganism and giving it another shot.
After all, veganism is about trying and not about perfecting. I am proud of myself, and I am overwhelmingly grateful for this experience. If you want to try something new in your life, what are you waiting for?
Tune in to my next and final article next week to hear my pitch for veganism.
If you want to watch my full experience in real time, follow @sunnygoesvegan on Instagram. It won’t disappoint.