Hello!

[Matteo]

Hello,
I'm Matteo and I'm a fairly new vegan from the UK. I went vegan in September of last year and I've joined to connect with other vegans to help with my feelings of vystopia and to encourage me to do activism.
I am vegan for the animals and I hope to advocate and turn many people vegan during my life time but at the moment I'm trying to balance my activism with growing during my teenage years, school and with having fun. I also overthink and obsess over everything!
I look forward to meeting you all

 

[Second Summer]

Welcome, Matteo!

Congratulations on going vegan! It sounds like you have your priorities straight, which is a really good thing. Many new vegans feel overwhelmed, but there's no need - just try to make sure you're eating well, and beyond that try to take one challenge at a time.

And we're all happy to answer any questions you might have, of course!

 

[deadknight]

Hello,
I'm Matteo and I'm a fairly new vegan from the UK. I went vegan in September of last year and I've joined to connect with other vegans to help with my feelings of vystopia and to encourage me to do activism.
I am vegan for the animals and I hope to advocate and turn many people vegan during my life time but at the moment I'm trying to balance my activism with growing during my teenage years, school and with having fun. I also overthink and obsess over everything!
I look forward to meeting you all

Hey Matteo, glad to have you here!
Good to see your deciding to go vegan at such a tender age.
Of course it's important to find a balance between activism and everything else, I agree you need to have fun.

 

[Emma JC]

welcome to the forum and congrats for being such a thoughtful person at such a great age

Are your parents supportive of your decision?

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com

 

[Andy_T]

Hello Matteo, welcome from a vegan friend in Germany!

 

[Chryssie]

 

[Matteo]

welcome to the forum and congrats for being such a thoughtful person at such a great age

Are your parents supportive of your decision?

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com

Yeah, they're luckily quite supportive. I think my vegetarian dad agrees with vegan morals but he's just concerned with changing his diet due to health problems. I would try push him but I've done that a lot and I know from experience that it'd be better to use that energy on strangers.

 

[PTree15]

Welcome to VF, Matteo! And congrats on going vegan!

 

[Emma JC]

Yeah, they're luckily quite supportive. I think my vegetarian dad agrees with vegan morals but he's just concerned with changing his diet due to health problems. I would try push him but I've done that a lot and I know from experience that it'd be better to use that energy on strangers.

That is wonderful and I wish you all the best with your journey and you are very wise to know that balance is important as living by example is strong activism also.

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com

 

[Brian W]

Nice to meet you @Matteo965

 

[veganteen1994]

Hello,
I'm Matteo and I'm a fairly new vegan from the UK. I went vegan in September of last year and I've joined to connect with other vegans to help with my feelings of vystopia and to encourage me to do activism.
I am vegan for the animals and I hope to advocate and turn many people vegan during my life time but at the moment I'm trying to balance my activism with growing during my teenage years, school and with having fun. I also overthink and obsess over everything!
I look forward to meeting you all

Hey Matteo,
I went vegan March of this year and was wondering (being a teenage vegan myself) if/how you won your parents and/or friends over? I've received so much crap from friends and family over the past few months and it's been quite demoralising? How has your vegan journey been so far and do you have any advice?

 

[Matteo]

Hey Matteo,
I went vegan March of this year and was wondering (being a teenage vegan myself) if/how you won your parents and/or friends over? I've received so much crap from friends and family over the past few months and it's been quite demoralizing? How has your vegan journey been so far and do you have any advice?

Hi! Sorry, for the late reply.

My family has been okay with it and, apart from an odd comment by my sister, have been quite supportive. It wasn't a big change because I was vegetarian previously and my dad is vegetarian so they're used to people not wanting to eat certain types of food.

My friends haven't been great in general and have made some rude and annoying comments and other people have done some quite rude things to me because of it. I try to ignore them to not give them a reaction to make them not want to do it again which is hard but hopefully will eventually work. I have gone to teachers about some cases that weren't specifically caused by me vegan but I think were motivated by it.
My best friend is really understanding and I think agrees with vegan morals. I've influenced them try go pescatarian which is going quite well. Maybe I can win them over to go vegan eventually.

I'm sorry about your friends and family, people can be very rude to people with different beliefs, especially ones that make them think about what bad things they do. I personally find meeting and talking to vegans online really helpful when I feel isolated. I usually use Discord which I recommend, along with this form, as it has many great features (although I don't recommend the server Vegan World, especially for people our age).
Other than feeling isolated because of knowing what happens to animals and the bullying, it's not been so bad. I've found loads of vegan foods, that I love, been quite healthy and I like being part of an obscure movement.

 

[Col]

Hi Matteo from Somerset UK