It’s been four years now since I’ve been vegan and it’s the best decision I have ever made. In 2018, I decided to be vegetarian. Two and a half years later, all it took was one video to put me off the dairy industry for life. Yes life was a lot more uncomplicated before being vegan. I could go round peoples houses or out for dinner without checking beforehand about what I could eat or if I had to prepare anything beforehand. But that’s a very small price to pay for living my life without harming any animals.

I decided to be vegetarian when I moved into my first home. I wanted to only buy meat from the local butchers to support the local community. I’d also gotten a dog at the same time so was exploring the new area by walking a lot down new trails. I would hear cows in the distance and there was a lot of wildlife around. It then struck me that I could hear the animals that I wanted to eat. So actually I would prefer to buy meat from an unknown place. Which made me question why I was eating it in the first place.

So, off to the shop I went with a new burst of vegetarian energy to get different ingredients I’d never used before! My first attempt with tofu was interesting to say the least but it’s since become one of my favourite foods. It was great trying all new foods and new recipes. And so much easier to avoid getting junk food because the vegan junk food scene wasn’t quite where it is today. I felt better in my mind and body.

Now a teeny selfish part of me sometimes wishes I could go back to a pre-veggie/vegan Beth. Life was a hell of a lot easier. Now I’ve uncovered what happens in the food industry, I feel as though the blinkers have been removed in many other parts of my life as well. My negative thoughts about climate change and animal cruelty gets so much sometimes I feel so hopeless. And all it can take is one slaughterhouse video or news article to have me in tears.

But I choose hope. I am hopeful more people are thinking about what they are eating and choosing compassion. I see no difference between my dog Bruce and a piglet playing with it’s brothers and sisters in an open field. And I hope that more people see that too. Because a world full of life and hope is a lot better than one of death and destruction.

As much as I wish a vegan world was the future, if everyone could just cut down on their meat and dairy consumption, then a lot of lives would be saved. Think of the little piglet playing in a field, a cow nudging you for tickles, the fish that just want to keep on swimming. Choose hope and choose love.