Down in the Dumps Veghead!
Hi. Mikala here. I'm 16. I just started being vegeterian a few weeks ago and am in desperate need of some support. my sister and Dad support me but everyone else jsut doesnt understand.
I became vegiterian for the simple fact that i wanted to be more health contious. I feel much better and have been getting good feed back, but just as much not good feed back.Oh and ontop of that i started creating my drealocks. i have one already and now people think I'm the weirdest person on the planet.
i get questians like "why do you not eat chicken but you still eat eggs?" and comments like "animals were meant to be eaten. I just feel as if no one around me understands why or what I'm trying to do.
I need some friendly support and hope that it does get better.
XOXO KALA
Hi Mikala, I'm sorry you're having a tough time. I think it's fantastic that you've gone veggie, and I really admire that you came to this insight at your age - definitely took me a few more years to see the light than it has you :-) From that perspective: yes, I believe it will get better. I went vegetarian in my early twenties, and by that time my friends were mature enough to not bug me about it, and my elders saw me as mature enough to respect my choices as a young adult. So, hopefully, time will do some of the work - and probably people around you will get used to it/bored of pestering you about it long before you hit your twenties.
There are a few different coping tactics for the questions: you can ignore them, you can prepare some really great serious answers for the most common questions, or if you don't feel like getting into discussions, you can come up with silly answers in stead: "Oh, I know, it's just that I really hate vegetables. I WANT TO KILL THEM ALL!!!!!"
Try and find some IRL friends too, it helps so much to have other vegetarians and vegans around you so you don't feel like the odd one out all the time.
Welcome to this forum, I hope you find some support here, too!
(and dreadlocks are gorgeous!)
Hi I am sorry to hear you are having such a hard time. High school is so hard! But on the very very positive side, your Dad and your sister support you. That is a major accomplishment, as there are a lot of teenagers who encounter tremendous resistance from their parents.
PeTA has a website just for kids you might want to check out: www.petakids.com
Also, I think the best thing to do is to just get yourself into the kitchen and start cooking. I am sure your local library has more vegetarian/vegan cookbooks than you could shake a stick at (whatever that means) and there are a lot of recipes online here. Plus there are many great veg resources on the internet with lots of great recipes. One of the best things to do is make something very delicious--cookies, cupcakes, whatever--and bring it to school and everybody will shut up.
Good luck!
About the person who asks why you don't eat chicken but you eat the eggs say your a vegetarian not a vegan.
To the person who says animals must be eaten say well today we have much healthier and much more delicious substitutes.
I'm just brainstorming, so I don't know how well it would really work, but I'd say involve as little carnivores in your decision as possible. For those who don't already know, it's really none of their concern. Just fix your food and eat it. If someone asks where's the meat, just say you don't want any right now. Don't make a big deal out of any of it. And....I really like the comment above about hating veggies and wanting to kill them all. Too cute. =)
Enjoy your journey. Don't sweat the people who don't understand. Avoid talking about your food if you're surrounded by naysayers. Try to think of a way to end the conversation as soon as it starts. Good luck.