It’s The One Year Anniversary Of Vegan American Princess!

“Dreams are renewable. No matter what our age or condition, there are still untapped possibilities within us and new beauty waiting to be born.”

-Dr. Dale E. Turner

I can’t believe it, but it’s true! Today is the one year anniversary of my first post on Vegan American Princess. I have been emotional over the past few days just thinking about what to write for this milestone event. When I started Vegan American Princess, I had been vegan for several years and I felt flooded with the knowledge and information I had accumulated during that time. My children were growing older, I had some spare time on my hands, and I felt compelled to share this information with the world. Hence, Vegan American Princess was born.

Over the past few days, I have been looking at (and laughing at) some of my older posts. I can recall how inspired I felt while writing Straight Edge Veganism: Syracuse, New York which was fueled by the bittersweet time I had just spent with my older son in Syracuse helping him to recover from pneumonia. I felt my prior frustrations while reading See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil  and Veganism Is Not A Religion! which represent the disconnect I felt with my community at the time the posts were written. I laughed while reading Vegan Bashing Everywhere, It’s All Good! and Meeting Matisyahu. I got all teary-eyed while reading The “Frankenstorm”: It’s Nature’s Way Of Telling You Something’s Wrong. 

Although I hit an “a-ha” moment when I wrote The Process Of Becoming Vegan, my favorite posts are the ones in which I acknowledge the younger generation of vegans who I believe are making the biggest impact of all. These posts are My Dream Girls For A Vegan Reality TV Show and Let Food Be Thy Medicine….

Although I loved writing these posts, the highlight of this past year for me was having Ellen join me in my mission to promote a vegan lifestyle to the world. Having realized that her experiences in Los Angeles were different from mine on Long Island, I asked her to start blogging with me. I was thrilled when she accepted my proposal, and I consider January 8, 2013 (the date of her first post) to be a milestone too!

Although I can state with certainty that Ellen and I feel passionately about what we do, it seems to me that the word “passionate” may be thrown about a bit too loosely. How many times have we read or heard a motivational speaker or public figure telling us to “follow our passions, and success will follow us?” I don’t want to be a killjoy, but I always found this advice to be a bit cruel.

So many people don’t have the luxury of following their passions, or don’t even know what they are. With families to support, mouths to feed and bills to pay, “following one’s passions” is simply not an option. Since I had to support myself through college and law school, I spent much of my life repaying student loans and working hard just to “get by.” Thankfully my life grew to be easier, but “following my passions” was not high on my list of priorities for many years.

To be lucky enough to have reached this point in time where I am doing something I love, and to feel that I might be making some difference in the world is a true gift. I am certain that Ellen feels the same way too! We both believe that veganism may be the key not only to one’s health and happiness, but to many (if not most) of the world’s problems. We know that we will never be able to change everyone’s minds with our endeavor, but we sincerely hope that we can share some useful information with those of you who are open to trying a vegan lifestyle or who are already there.

Thank you so much for visiting Vegan American Princess and for becoming interested in the pursuit of a plant-based lifestyle!

Peace and Love,

Debby

xoxoxo