5 Years Freegan and Vegan

The 5 Best Years of My Life

(Tl;dr It’s hard to perfectly encapsulate how much I love being vegan and freegan, but goddamn I love it.)

This January marks the five year anniversary of being freegan and vegan and it’s a huge reason why it has been the best five years of my life. To capture the feeling, I came up with a list of five improvements in my life:

1. I have more fun

I see the world from a different perspective. I’m more resourceful. I am able to better appreciate good food and good health. Finding free food and eating plant-based, knowing the positive impact you are making on yourself and others, is an exciting feeling that continually reinforces itself.

2. I’m Healthier

I get sick far less often since I stopped eating animals. Initially, I only bought vegan and ate anything I found. During that time, every time I ate dairy, I got the sniffles. I cut it out completely. I get colds occasionally, but they last shorter, and happen far less often.

I’ve always valued fitness and consistently exercised, but I’ve become the most defined in my life. My cardio has improved and I recover much quicker.

I have less anxiety and rarely get stressed. I think this has to do with living more in line with my values and feeling harmony internally. Either that, or not consuming death.

3. I take more ownership

I’ve always been passionate about the environment, but it wasn’t until I became vegan and freegan that I am in control of making an impact. It goes hand-in-hand with living my values. I used to have feelings of despair about global warming and ecocide, but I realize that if I can do my part individually and try to help others, I can be at peace with things. 

I can’t control what I can’t control.The only things I can control in life are the actions I take. Of course, things will happen that suck, but once the cards are dealt, it’s up to me to roll with it.

I take control of my health with things like a plant-based diet, exercise, sleep, meditation, socializing, volunteering, not binge drinking, and more.

4. I’ve become more action-oriented in all areas of my life

In the past 5 years, I’ve tried to become a better feminist and anti-racist. Especially with the summer of 2020 being a societal reckoning, I’ve been taking long overdue action to educate myself and act to combat white supremacy. In the past, I may have sat around upset waiting for someone or “them” to fix it. 

I also learned that violence against women is really men’s violence against women. One small example is quitting watching porn after understanding how that action perpetuates discrimination against women. Like not eating meat, I physically feel better not watching porn. I quit social media too, because I thought it was making my life worse and has largely created societal harm. Taking efforts to make the world more equitable has made me feel better about myself. 

I now volunteer and donated money consistently. My hope is that by making life better for people I encounter, it will make my life better too. Helping others helps yourself.

5. I live with more purpose and love

I could die tomorrow. You could too. Life is too precious to devote energy to things we don’t care about. I’ve walked away from comfortable situations or opportunities to make more money. Staying and feeling like I’m wasting my life would be worse. There is too much opportunity to create a positive impact that’s in line with your values.

In 5 years of being freegan and vegan, I’ve strived to live a life of truth and love with the people, animals, and places around me. I focus on what I can do for myself and my community and don’t stress about what I can’t control. Most of all, I’ve tried to live in truth and love with myself. I want my actions to match my words. I appreciate my life more and the people around me.

-Freddy