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For anyone who isn't yet Vegan,
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it can seem like an unnattainable lifestyle
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We've been raised to eat animals and most of us become addicted to their taste
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When an action has been repeatedly normalised, it can feel impossible changing to something else
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But being Vegan in itself is easy
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Veganism is just about not exploiting and consuming animals
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After a few weeks of experimenting with new foods and products, new habits form and it becomes effortless
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We discover new tastes and recipes we hadn't tried before, find Vegan versions of our favourite meals
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and most of the time we find a whole new appreciation for food and nutrition and love it more than we ever had before
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The real difficulty in being Vegan doesn't involve food
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The hardest part about being Vegan is coming face to face with a darker side of humanity
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and trying to remain hopeful
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It's trying to understand why otherwise good and caring people continue to participate in needless violence against animals
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just for the sake of their pleasure or convenience
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When you first discover Veganism, you have to deal with the fact that you've been lied to most of your life
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You have to accept that as you were growing up, the people you thought you could trust, stole your compassion
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and taught you that it was okay to harm others
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They corrupted your mind without you realising and gave you justifications to stop you from thinking about it
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And you have to realise that the adverts that made you smile and laugh were just tricking you into giving the money for products
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that make you sick and destroy the planet
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You have to deal with the fact that they used happy cartoons and loving slogans to sell tortured, slaughtered animals
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And you fell for it
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And when you start to realise this, you naively think that you've discovered a secret that the world needs to hear
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so you do everything you can to share the new truths you've learned
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You tell everyone you know about Veganism
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hoping they'll understand and change like you did when you made the connection
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But they don't
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They give you excuses that don't make sense and refuse to listen to reason
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You find your family and closest friends defending animal abuse because they're too scared to change
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And you don't know how to react to their indifference
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You're trying to help them and help innocent animals but they accuse you of attacking them
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and become defensive everytime you talk about Veganism
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You have arguments and start to lose respect for those you love the most
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And you become isolated
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You can't stop thinking about the images of animals being queued up to be systematically slaughtered
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You feel so powerless and just wish people would listen
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And at the same time the people around you start to mock you and ridicule you for being different
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They make insensitive jokes and you do your best to see the funny side of what they're saying
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then come home and realise that they were laughing about animal abuse as if it was acceptable
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It's been said that enlightenment is bittersweet
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because in one hand it is wonderful to know the truth, live the truth and share the truth
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But it is also maddening to realise how cruel and ignorant our species can be
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But that's not a reason to shy away from doing what's right
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All throughout time the ones on the right side of justice have always faced resistance
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But it's always been worth it
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Becuase what is the hardest part about being Vegan is also the most rewarding part
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The longer you're Vegan, you find better ways of explaining to others and sooner or later someone will listen
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And more people will open up and listen to what you have to say
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And people you thought you'd never get through to will thank you for changing their life
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The seeds you planted from the beginning will start to grow and you'll understand the importance of patience and persistance
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You find other Vegans and learn to love humanity again
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realising that there are good people out there
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But through the process of letting go you welcome so many beautiful people into your life who share more in common with you
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And as hard as it is to move on from the past,
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you become happier in the long run
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And it gives you a reason to get up everday
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It's no longer just about you
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Veganism teaches you to look beyond yourself and think about others
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And through your activism you learn to never apologise for speaking up
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Because if you're right and you know it,
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you have to speak up
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Even if you're just one person against the whole world, the truth is still the truth
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Exposing the lies and injustice becomes your purpose
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And you become such a shining version of yourself that you inspire others arouund you without even trying
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You inspire compassion through your fearlessness and uncompromising passion to make the world less selfish
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And the best lesson you'll ever learn is that life's not about feeling amazing all the time
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It's about accepting the pain and fear
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And doing something anyway
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not because you want to
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but because you have to
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There's so much evil on this planet
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But that shouldn't make us sad
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It should make us desperate to help
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”Because this is not some mundane diet choice
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This is the difference between enslavement and freedom
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Between torture and peace
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Between death and life
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This is serious
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And you understand it and you are part of this revolution ”
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”The people that think Veganism is hard are thinking about themselves
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And the people that think Veganism is easy are thinking about the animals
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So if you think it's hard to not eat meat, think how hard it is for them that you do eat meat”