Being vegan is pretty incredible. You’re no longer contributing to the suffering and
death of billions of sentient beings, you’re environmental impact goes down an insane amount,
and depending on your type of diet, your health can dramatically improve as well.
You kind of become a superhero. But, as was once said to such a hero, with great power
comes great responsibility- and the awareness that veganism brings can be devastating. So
how are we vegans to stay hopeful against the enormity of suffering in this world?
Who better to address this than the woman who calls herself the “The Joyful Vegan,”?
Author and speaker Colleen Patrick-Goudreau.
Hi it’s Emily from Bite Size Vegan and welcome to another vegan nugget. The question of how
to stay hopeful, or at the very least, sane as a vegan is one I’ve been asked many-a-time.
This is something that I personally struggle with greatly. So when I had the opportunity
to speak with Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, the self-appointed “Joyful Vegan,” I was sure
to ask her how she stays joyful. Let’s hear from her and then I’ll share some of my
own thoughts in the wrap-up.
Colleen, again I wanted to thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule
to be here and to share some of your wisdom about veganism.
Thanks...thanks for having me.
So, I think a big question for, especially people who are newer to veganism, but even...
even people who have been vegan for awhile, a challenge that can come along is, how do you stay hopeful
in a world that is not vegan-like? How do you be, as you call yourself, a joyful vegan
in a non-vegan world?
Ack, it’s...it’s a, I think it takes vigilance and it takes a desire to want
to be in a hopeful state vs. not being in a hopeful state because we choose in any given
moment how we want to respond to this world. And some of us have a more innate natural
response to things as they are, and some of us have to cultivate that response, and some
of us are both, right? So, I do tend to be a little bit on the optimistic side. I just
kind of naturally gravitate toward hope which I’m really grateful for, it’s carried
me through a lot in my life, but I also cultivate it, I choose hope. And that’s really the
message I convey to my audience is that we can choose in any given moment, and I do believe
that the way we think determines what we experience. And so, if I want to see a hopeful world that’s
what I’m going to direct my thoughts too, and so, in the result is that I see hope.
If I want to see pessimism and despair, and torture, and just...just hopelessness, I can
choose that too and that’s all I’m going to experience. So, I really do believe that
we create our own realities in the sense of how we perceive the world and how we then,
put it back out in the world. And it doesn’t mean...sure there’s probably a little bit of
cognitive dissonance there because I have to block out some of it, I have to, we have
to, or we would completely explode in the...in the...how, desperately, you know, how desperate
things are for animals especially. And we have to be able to separate some of it out,
right?, that’s a sort of viable mechanism. And I cry, you know, I expose myself to these
things and it feels really bad. My reaction to that is to actually work harder. Some other
people’s reaction to that might be depression and we always have to kind of gauge where
we’re at and if we’re at a place where we can’t take something that’s going to
actually put us in despair rather than hope or action at least. So, we have to be honest
with ourselves about those things too. But I don’t think choosing constant exposure
because we think if we don’t we’re letting the animals down is the answer. Because then
we’re letting the whole thing down because it’s not going to do anything to feed us,
it’s only going to drain us. So, we have to find a balance in exposing ourselves, crying,
letting ourselves feel it, blocking some of it out, becoming, you know, part of the hope,
seeing hope, becoming part of that...acting, etc. So, it’s really I think all of these
things and that might change in one single day for us, so that’s...that’s what I would say to that.
It's such a difficult thing I think because at least for myself
being an activist, I always feel like I’m not doing, like I’m never doing enough.
There’s always more I can do, there’s always another, you know, there’s always
more animals in need of help and of advocacy. So, I think it’s, it is very easy to...
...to kind of get lost in that and to push yourself but as you said, if we push ourselves to the
point where we are no longer functional then we’re also not being of service to the animals.
We’re not and it’s so cliche. We all hear that, we all say that to each
other. I hear it all the time, you know, and I have to be reminded of it all the time.
And that’s why we need to be a community of supporting each other because we do need
to remind each other. It quite literally could be from a day to day basis. One day I’m
working so hard that I’m in tears, that’s not okay, right?, that’s not sustainable.
I can’t do it everyday and I need someone to go ‘tap tap, hi, go, leave your computer.
Go take a walk. You need to go do that; It’s okay’. And the truth is, when I do that
and I really do need the reminder. I need it from other people around me who love me
and want to support me. Whether it’s my followers or my husband, or my friends,
or what have you. And then I know when I come back, I do feel so much better. And I feel
so much more equipped to be so much more effective. Because I’m not that effective when I’m
in tears and I’m feeling stressed, and I’m so balled with, you know, with despair, anger
or whatever it is, I’m not effective, I’m just not. So, we have to learn what our lines
are and we have to honest with ourselves. And if we can’t...if we don’t have a good
barometer then we need to check in with the people who love us and say, ‘can you help
me find this barometer because I don’t know what’s normal, I don’t know what’s reasonable,
I don’t know when to stop so please help me’. And we have to be accountable in that
way...that’s where we have to ask for the help as well.
I hope you enjoyed hearing Colleen’s take on this matter. As I said in the beginning,
this is something I myself struggle with. From a very young age I remember crying in
my room because I felt so overwhelmed by the enormity of suffering in the world and my
seeming powerlessness against it. I felt like I’d never be able to make the impact that
was needed- how could I as a 5-year-old against multi-billion dollar corporations?
My life’s quest has been to find a way to make some impact, but for me, it’s never
enough and my work is never done. Not until all of the animals are free.
What I personally do with all of the outrage, horror, fury, disgust and sadness is I try
to channel all of that energy into my activism.
And I try to remember that no matter what I'm experiencing emotionally, it is NOTHING
compared to what the animals are going through and I owe it to them to do whatever I can.
Now of course I would not advocate that you drive yourself into the ground and neglect
to care for yourself. As I said in my video on whether medication is vegan and as Colleen
also mentioned, if you’re not well, then you can’t be of service to the animals.
And I truly believe that.
Of course I need to learn to practice what I preach on this- but I tend to be more towards
the likes of Gary Yourofsky with being forever unsatisfied. You can watch this bonus video
from my interview with Gary where he elaborates on this. It was not publically aired on
my channel- it’s on my Patreon page but open to non-patrons to watch. You can click
there or find the link in the video description and in the iCard sidebar.
Of course, I suppose if I was completely hopeless then I wouldn’t even bother doing the work
that I do. And in the end, I’d take the struggle to stay hopeful while being vegan
over the ignorant contribution to the suffering and death of sentient beings while not being
vegan anytime. Put another way, I’d rather be aware of the horrors I’m not contributing
to then unaware of those I am.
Now I’d love to hear from you about this difficult topic- if you’re vegan, how do you stay
hopeful in the face of all we do to the animals? If you’re not vegan, have you become aware
of these realities and if so, does that make you want to become vegan or wish that you could
go back to not knowing? What struggles have you had with this? Let me know in the comments!
If you enjoyed hearing from Colleen, give this video a big thumbs up and share it around
to help others who may be struggling. If you want to help support Bite Size Vegan so I
can keep trying to make a difference for the animals, check out either of the support links
in the video description below and for perks and rewards for your support, click on the
Nugget Army icon there or the link in the iCard sidebar. If you’re new here, be sure
to hit that big red subscribe button down there for more awesome vegan content every Monday, Wednesday,
and some Fridays. Now go live vegan, get hopeful, and I’ll see you soon!
One thing I can say is that this girl really helps me keep going. She is the biggest optimist I have ever met.
She loves everybody- even dogs that are trying to be aggressive to her- she tries to be their best friend.
Oh and I know I'm wearing a different shirt- it's for the video you'll see on Wednesday- I didn't want to change back.
I'm breaking the 4th wall.
Thank you for being in the little bonus material!
Subtitles by the Amara.org community