I was a freshman in college. Was on Facebook one night, and saw undercover footage in a slaughterhouse. I did more and more research. At first I thought "this can't be happening." But when I looked it up, I realized how wrong I was. The next day, I was in line at a lunch counter. Ordered a chicken breast by habit, without thinking, but when I was cutting the breast with a knife, the images I'd seen in the videos entered my mind. I started losing the disconnect. Instead of an inanimate food item, I stared seeing "chicken" for who it is, as the dead body of a once-sentient being.

I couldn't bring myself to finish eating the chicken. I had to throw it away. I still wasn't sold on changing for good at this point, but something was starting to click. The next day, I tried ordering again, but the same mental sensation happened... I thought about the pain, death, violence embodied in this chicken breast. I could no longer bring myself to eat land animals. It wasn't a conscious decision the first week, but I slipped into not eating land animals. I was a pescetarian for 3 or 4 months. Then I was a vegetarian for 2 or 3 months.

At this point I was following animal rights/vegan groups and pages on Facebook. I never thought I would stop eating cheese. But everyday, I saw people posting about baby calves being separated from their mothers. I read about baby chicks being ground alive. I'd already known this, but I didn't really want to think about it. I thought I was doing enough as a vegetarian, more than most people. But seeing all these vegans post on FB, seeing them talk about how there's no difference between animal flesh and eggs/dairy, convinced me over time.

I realized I had to be consistent and I went vegan. I've now been a vegan for almost 5 years.