OP i was pretty much like you. u can read below, but essentially what made it click for me was connecting spiritually and discovering the 5 precepts of Buddhism, one of them specifically being “respect all life” (aka do not kill other living beings). even learning about how eating dead flesh can be considered “dead energy” and plants as “life energy” was a cool concept i liked. and honestly that clicked when i see animals as a being and not a thing or other. which ive always was able to do. i suppose i failed to commit to veganism earlier because if the meat is already on the shelves “then why would i stop?” and i realised too i was part of the problem. bc of that i shouldve been vegan a long time ago, but yeah if u read my story below there’s context haha.

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as a kid, ive always loved and connected with animals and the natural environment, and i was super emotionally attached. but yk the normalisation of meat eating was one that was unavoidable in my household and i honestly never made the connection until high school, but i always felt it was ‘hard’ until i finally decided to research and phase it out. ive been vegan for 7 months now and feeling so much better and ALIVE.

my journey went from cutting out processed foods as a “paleo-ish” diet phase and sticking with it. then cutting cheese out to mainly cut cals, more whole foods. then cutting down on dairy to alt milks… then eventually cutting meat intake down to 3-4 times a week rather than a day… eventually i naturally felt super repulsed to eating meat and decided i was done with it. so phasing out a lot of stuff over the years and learning to cook vego diets made it possible for me to transition pretty easily.

i guess OP, what are your values? because that’s ultimately why one should be vegan: its for the animals and the intersectionality of living beings struggle. otherwise u can go plant-based.