Family

[Rory17]

Hello ,
I’m Autistic. I went from veggie back to vegan again recently. I am extremely passionate for animals. I love animals (especially dogs, but I love and care about farm animals in general and as individuals, too, in particular Benji the bullock whom I encountered and named, the pigs at Darts Farm, Keith and Bruno the steers at Darts Farm, Nanna’s chickens, etc).
Anyhow, my family still eat meat. It does bother me when they eat meat. I would love to get them to go vegan, even if I do have to do so gradually (starting with giving up meat for Lent, etc). However, as an Autistic person, things between me and them aren’t always picture-perfect, no offence to them. As an Autistic person, I am very sensitive to when people get aggressive or angry. My family could become quite defensive/angry if I were to bring it up. However, I so want to stop them from eating animals and supporting animal slaughter and cruelty! How can I become assertive/outspoken enough to confront them and deal with their anger?
Also, is it assertiveness or outspokenness that I would need to work on with this? Would working on either of these traits help? I was looking for hypnosis that would help, but I only found about one for outspokenness (actually, two videos, but probably the same content and YouTube channel). I found a lot of stuff for assertiveness, but I’m not sure whether assertiveness would be the right trait to work on for this. Would either an assertiveness hypnosis or an outspokenness one do?
Please help asap, for the animals, planet, the family and me.
Thank you for all you do for the animals, the planet, yourselves and others.
Best Wishes to all,
Rory.
Have the best day and night ever!

 

[David3]

Hi Rory,

There is no need to confront your family about this. People choose to become vegan because they feel personally inspired to do so, not because someone tells them to do it.

In my experience, the best thing is to just enjoy your beautiful, delicious vegan food. Believe it or not, your family will notice how good your food looks. They will even start trying some vegan food themselves - they won't tell anyone, of course, because they want it to be their decision. If you push people, they react by asserting their freedom and refusing.

My sister became vegetarian 20 years after I did. Unfortunately, she quit after 1 year, due to pressure from her family.
.

 

[Lou]

Maybe you could hypnotize them.
Just kidding.

Over the years, I feel like I have gotten to know you from your posts. and I admire your passion and enthusiasm.
but I sometimes feel you need to ...um.. scale it back. You are not responsible for what others do. I believe you have made a reasonable effort to convert your family. I think it's time for you to just relax and enjoy being vegan. Stop beating yourself up. Sometimes the best (or only) thing you can do is lead by example.
My BIL was somewhere between passive-aggressive and hostile when I first become vegan. But over the years he has become more accepting. But not vegan.

Dr. Melanie Joy, a psychiatrist, has some YouTube videos and a book that you may find helpful. Some of her videos are quite long so maybe start with a shorter one. she also has a wonderful book that is worth reading - even if you don't have issues. Why We Love Dogs.....