Standing Proud

My main New Years Resolution this year is to no longer eat meat. This decision has been a long time coming, after giving up meat for lent last year I have not eaten red meat since, and never bought meat for myself. However when I'm at home or visiting peoples houses, I've always found myself apologising for being awkward and so eating poultry and occasionally pork.

If you were to ask those who know me, they would say I'm never one to shy away from confrontation, or standing up for what I believe in. So it was surprising to me when I realised I had started to apologise and conform for something I do feel very strongly about, and the only thing I can put it down to is that eating meat is just so commonplace. In most occasions I am the odd one out - but that has never stopped me before.

So this year I have fully committed to no longer eating meat, and now I'm not embarrassed to put people out or feel awkward, I'm embarrassed it took me so long to get to this point.
The main reason for this post is not to discuss confidence and resolve (which are also important), but share what helped me finalise this decision; finding communities and support. Just seeing people post about going meat-free online made me realise I wasn't alone in this decision (obviously there are many others... but you know what I mean). I heard a statistic the other day that 1 in 8 Britons are now vegetarian, and whether true or not, it gave me hope.

Hope for change.

So, whether your belief is the same as mine or different, I hope that is the message anyone reading this takes away.