Tldr: my jagged journey to being a shitty vegan started with admitting it was ethically superior and then just trying things for fun/challenge.

That was my attitude basically ever since I seriously thought about the ethics for maybe 10 whole minutes. I mean it's obvious. But it didn't impact anything I did until I lived on my own for a while. Then I started by cutting out the obviously reprehensible options like restaurants that support factory farming, cheap machine produced stuff, etc. I'd still eat trash from time to time, but I tried to shop for more ethical sounding options, like free to roam stuff.

Many years later I slowly started cooking vegetarian meals more than anything else, and would joke with my wife "look: totally vegan... Except for all the cheese lol. " 100% vegan meals then became a personal challenge then, so tried to make them good without cheese. Nothing bad happened.

I always said I could never be vegan because of cheese, but then I thought what if I JUST quit cheese and dairy (just obvious sources, but not like if it's in a piece of toast and I can't tell). Again nothing bad happened. Actually my vegetarian friends were really supportive and showed me lots of vegan dishes.

I still had eggs every day for breakfast and the occasional fish, like sardines or tuna sandwiches. I didn't know how I could ever quit my morning eggs, and had even tried a couple times.

Then I saw a vegan thread on lemmy here and just asked someone what they ate for breakfast and they gave me a few ideas and I decided to try yet another tofu scramble and that just did it.

I did feel sluggish for a day or two, and maybe a little bit "off" for a week but not even as bad as a cold. Kind of like a hangover. I just stuck with it and ate a bit more to make up for any loss in nutrition, throw in a daily vitamin, and that was just it. And yup, nothing bad happened. Eventually I felt great. The whole time I guess it was just a couple sluggish days away from me.

I said maybe I'd eat meat or dairy just to be easy from time to time, but then Thanksgiving came and went and I really didn't feel like it. I just brought lentil patties and ate some sides until I wasn't hungry anymore. Easy peasy.

If anything I feel like going vegan has de-dramatised food and eating for me. It's simple: you just eat nutritious food that makes you feel good, until you're satisfied.

But I'm just at the outset. I don't vet everything, I just don't partake in anything that is made with animal products as far as I can tell, and as much as I easily can.