Reflections on Week One, Going in to Week Two

For the past week I have been describing my newly adopted way of living as a "challenge." Snapchats of sopritas and mushroom burgers are wittily tagged with #veganchallenge. It occurred to me that the way I was presenting this lifestyle change was not only misleading, but also propagated the belief that vegan living is difficult. In fact, I have faced almost zero challenges this week other than one slip-up that resulted from assuming that something as benign as a cracker was vegan (I'm looking at you wheat crackers from Safeway! You sneaky dairy-laden morsels). So for this next week I am going to give myself a challenge which will be to stop describing what I am doing as a challenge. Instead, I will use the term that VLP has so thoughtfully provided us with...pledge. I am pledging to be a more conscious consumer. I am pledging to take charge of my health despite what big agribusiness wants me to believe about vegan living. I am pledging to respect farm animals the same way I respect and love my own pets. And furthermore, I am pledging to act an educator and advocate for those people who see vegan living as a challenge. I know that in the coming weeks I will face dilemmas, but as with any lifestyle change it takes patience and forgiveness to form lasting habits.

In Solidarity,

Casey
you can follow my pledge at http://mobtownvegan.blogspot.com