Coming Out of the Closet!

Most people laugh when I tell them I became vegetarian thanks to a cartoon. This particular cartoon - "BraceFace" is what ignited the vegetarian fire within me and gave me the courage to be the little animal activist I am.  The lead character voiced by Alicia Silverstone, was an awkward preteen with braces that did crazy things at times. The particular episode I watched at summer camp included the main character Sharon walking through the city and hearing animals cry as they got ready to die. She made the connection between meat and where it really comes from, and decided to become a vegetarian. Although it wasn't very realistic to be walking by a slaughterhouse in the city, it resonated with me, and I decided to become a vegetarian too. That night I went home and told my mom I wasn't going to eat meat anymore. Because I was in a summer camp with meals provided and we were in the middle of the week, my mom responded, "Can't you at least wait until the weekend?" But I couldn't. I told her I could no longer sacrifice my principals for the taste of meat.

As I did more research on vegetarianism I became more and more passionate about it. I didn't mind telling my classmates at school and informing others about where I got  my protein from. But over time, constantly having to justify my beliefs wore on me. In high school it got to a point that I was harassed so frequently for being vegetarian I made my friends promise not to tell anyone new. If they accidentally slipped, I would get mad at them. My senior year I remember being bombarded so much in a class that I starting tearing up in front of the boys bullying me, and it was humiliating. After that I was very careful about telling anyone.

In college I started to realize that there were more mature people out there that would accept me for who I was. I even found a club called Hilltop Herbivores for the vegetarians and vegans on campus. I still had moments where I struggled with people treating me poorly and disrespecting me for my beliefs, but starting learning how to effectively discuss it and change the subject when the need arose.

Even this year I tried to keep my veganism under the radar when I switched to working at a new Gold's. However, when one person knows about your veganism, it doesn't take long for everyone to find out- so I didn't get a chance to hide it. Although this kind of annoyed me at first, as I rarely get to inform people on my own terms, I've learned that I can't help others or shatter stereotypes if no one knows I'm vegan.

I want to represent veganism in the best possible way, and the only way to do that is to be proud and open about it. So I've decided to finally embrace my veganism and stop hiding! I ordered these tank tops from Spreadshirt (not a sponsor) where I got to design them completely however I liked. I'm super happy with how they turned out, yet still a little nervous about getting glared at while I workout tonight wearing one of them..wish me luck! ;)

You can see what they look like in the video below :D

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<3 Hannah