Thank you for this thoughtful piece. I find it a hard balance between the imperative of staying aware and engaged on the one hand and on the other hand not becoming completely overwhelmed and burnt out. I definitely don’t get the balance right and find it easy to feel guilty and become discouraged either way.
I love the idea of spending time with happy animals - both therapeutic and a positive reminder of why we need to keep going ❤️
It is tricky for most of us, I think. For me it is SO helpful to step out of "activist" mode and just do something fun. Then I get back to activism with a renewed energy. And yes, happy animals are a failsafe cure :)
I've noticed that when someone is switched off long enough, it's incredibly difficult to switch back on without seeing the plight of the animals or having someone else intensely remind you of their plight.
Unfortunately, I've met way more Vegans who are switched off than those who are switched on. It's lonely.
What burns me out the most is this loneliness. My opinion is that burn out stems from taking on the burden alone. With a strong enough activist community/team, it's much easier to stay consistent. It becomes normal.
I think this is what Dr Joy is talking about, the loneliness of living in a culture where the mainstream isn't vegan and most people don't share our views or our plight. A strong community is so helpful. I'm very lucky to have that, but I know that has been a struggle for many people.
Hey Dr. Louise! This comment of yours has been living in my head rent-free for a while now. After I got vulnerable about loneliness and you provided a solution, I thought you deserve to know this: I have become "a part" of Hive, in the way that I receive the newsletter, but I don't use Slack. A resource that Hive linked, Overcome.org.uk, has been incredibly useful for me over this month. While I build my community in real life (I've recently become an organizer for Anonymous for the Voiceless), Hive has still been super helpful to me and I do enjoy the newsletter digests I've received thus far. Everyone there seems awesome! Including you. Thank you!!! <3
Oh, that's so great to hear! Really happy that one of their resources has been so useful to you.
And I totally understand the desire to build community in the non-virtual world -- there's something about being with like-minded people in person that's really comforting.
Thanks for this article. I’m often being criticised for ‘not looking at the trauma’. But I don’t need to see the cruelty in order to know that it’s there. It no longer motivates me though it was definitely the start of my vegan commitment.
These days I’m motivated by my vision for a better world for animals and humans and the eco-system as a whole.
I don’t complain about the non-vegans. But think of people as not being vegan yet, who need to be inspired and educated to live their lives differently.
I understand the trap they are in and how they got indoctrinated in their meat consuming lifestyle. I was that person once.
However, the lately more and more emerging aggression towards vegans, the jokes and cynical responses can get on ones nerves. More than once have I debated with myself about letting go of a friend because they don’t seem to respect my ethical choices. But perhaps a better way forward is to be honest. And explain to the friend what upsets us about their statement and why their joke isn’t funny.
We need create strong, happy, vegan communities. Where we can celebrate our way of living so we can show the world that this is a truly happy place to be. I’m lucky to have such a community here in Portugal. We organise vegan get togethers which those not vegan yet love to join because of the fun we have. Those are opportunities for education and gentle guidance towards better choices.
Thank you for the brilliant article. I will read Dr Melanie Joy. 🙏💚
So true. Alongside all the despair, positivity is definitely needed. That's what I'm trying to create with this newsletter, a reminder that it's possible to live an inspired life while trying to do our bit to improve the world. Veganism needs to be a happy place, otherwise we won't attract more people to the cause. I was part of a group before where there would be activism and then a social outing afterwards. A perfect balance.
Thank you for writing this, Sascha! I'm so sorry you had to watch so much animal cruelty, I can't even imagine what that must have felt like. I wish you as much support from others and light-hearted fun as you want. Thank you for all you have been doing to help animals, you are a true hero!
Your description of having to watch animal cruelty as part of your animal advocacy job reminded me of what some prosecutors have to deal with when reviewing footage of terrible crimes against humans, day in, day out. I have spoken to some of them, and they really struggle with it. (I have a law background and for a while wanted to get into international criminal law, before realizing that it would make me totally miserable to witness some of the worst crimes against humanity every day.)
It's obviously not quite the same thing as what you are describing, but I wonder if there are parallels?
For instance, some prosecutors I spoke to felt very lonely, and like their mental and emotionally struggles were mostly overlooked. I also imagine that most people would prefer to not know how gruesome things can be, whether that is in law enforcement or in people exposing the cruelties of factory farming. And could animal advocates benefit from some of the same strategies that help therapists, social workers, law enforcement, and other people dealing with second hand trauma?
Hopefully, in the future, animal advocates such as yourself (and everyone who is making the world a better place by confronting the horrors of it) will get all the support they need!
Thanks for sharing this
Hope it's helpful!
Thank you for this thoughtful piece. I find it a hard balance between the imperative of staying aware and engaged on the one hand and on the other hand not becoming completely overwhelmed and burnt out. I definitely don’t get the balance right and find it easy to feel guilty and become discouraged either way.
I love the idea of spending time with happy animals - both therapeutic and a positive reminder of why we need to keep going ❤️
It is tricky for most of us, I think. For me it is SO helpful to step out of "activist" mode and just do something fun. Then I get back to activism with a renewed energy. And yes, happy animals are a failsafe cure :)
I've noticed that when someone is switched off long enough, it's incredibly difficult to switch back on without seeing the plight of the animals or having someone else intensely remind you of their plight.
Unfortunately, I've met way more Vegans who are switched off than those who are switched on. It's lonely.
What burns me out the most is this loneliness. My opinion is that burn out stems from taking on the burden alone. With a strong enough activist community/team, it's much easier to stay consistent. It becomes normal.
Animal sanctuaries though...always a cure.
I think this is what Dr Joy is talking about, the loneliness of living in a culture where the mainstream isn't vegan and most people don't share our views or our plight. A strong community is so helpful. I'm very lucky to have that, but I know that has been a struggle for many people.
Dani, are you a part of Hive? It's a free Slack channel/community of 3000+ farmed animal advocates: https://www.joinhive.org/
Here's the link to join: https://tally.so/r/wkGKer
Hey Dr. Louise! This comment of yours has been living in my head rent-free for a while now. After I got vulnerable about loneliness and you provided a solution, I thought you deserve to know this: I have become "a part" of Hive, in the way that I receive the newsletter, but I don't use Slack. A resource that Hive linked, Overcome.org.uk, has been incredibly useful for me over this month. While I build my community in real life (I've recently become an organizer for Anonymous for the Voiceless), Hive has still been super helpful to me and I do enjoy the newsletter digests I've received thus far. Everyone there seems awesome! Including you. Thank you!!! <3
Oh, that's so great to hear! Really happy that one of their resources has been so useful to you.
And I totally understand the desire to build community in the non-virtual world -- there's something about being with like-minded people in person that's really comforting.
Thanks for this article. I’m often being criticised for ‘not looking at the trauma’. But I don’t need to see the cruelty in order to know that it’s there. It no longer motivates me though it was definitely the start of my vegan commitment.
These days I’m motivated by my vision for a better world for animals and humans and the eco-system as a whole.
I don’t complain about the non-vegans. But think of people as not being vegan yet, who need to be inspired and educated to live their lives differently.
I understand the trap they are in and how they got indoctrinated in their meat consuming lifestyle. I was that person once.
However, the lately more and more emerging aggression towards vegans, the jokes and cynical responses can get on ones nerves. More than once have I debated with myself about letting go of a friend because they don’t seem to respect my ethical choices. But perhaps a better way forward is to be honest. And explain to the friend what upsets us about their statement and why their joke isn’t funny.
We need create strong, happy, vegan communities. Where we can celebrate our way of living so we can show the world that this is a truly happy place to be. I’m lucky to have such a community here in Portugal. We organise vegan get togethers which those not vegan yet love to join because of the fun we have. Those are opportunities for education and gentle guidance towards better choices.
Thank you for the brilliant article. I will read Dr Melanie Joy. 🙏💚
So true. Alongside all the despair, positivity is definitely needed. That's what I'm trying to create with this newsletter, a reminder that it's possible to live an inspired life while trying to do our bit to improve the world. Veganism needs to be a happy place, otherwise we won't attract more people to the cause. I was part of a group before where there would be activism and then a social outing afterwards. A perfect balance.
Thank you for writing this, Sascha! I'm so sorry you had to watch so much animal cruelty, I can't even imagine what that must have felt like. I wish you as much support from others and light-hearted fun as you want. Thank you for all you have been doing to help animals, you are a true hero!
Your description of having to watch animal cruelty as part of your animal advocacy job reminded me of what some prosecutors have to deal with when reviewing footage of terrible crimes against humans, day in, day out. I have spoken to some of them, and they really struggle with it. (I have a law background and for a while wanted to get into international criminal law, before realizing that it would make me totally miserable to witness some of the worst crimes against humanity every day.)
It's obviously not quite the same thing as what you are describing, but I wonder if there are parallels?
For instance, some prosecutors I spoke to felt very lonely, and like their mental and emotionally struggles were mostly overlooked. I also imagine that most people would prefer to not know how gruesome things can be, whether that is in law enforcement or in people exposing the cruelties of factory farming. And could animal advocates benefit from some of the same strategies that help therapists, social workers, law enforcement, and other people dealing with second hand trauma?
Hopefully, in the future, animal advocates such as yourself (and everyone who is making the world a better place by confronting the horrors of it) will get all the support they need!