I randomly went vegan Nia Sekayi Greene

Come on Otis! I tugged on my dog’s leash. My feet pounded the ground, quickly accelerating in speed because the kitchen was awaiting my arrival. I opened the door and was hit with a wave of anxiousness and excitement.

What should I cook? All this built up energy to then just be hit in the face with indecisiveness. Ugh! I stared for what felt like hours, contemplating my existence, and seriously considered taking a nibble of the gumbo stewing in the pot. No! I snapped back to my meatless reality and began getting ingredients out of the fridge to chop. As I thinly sliced carrots, I reminisced about the days when I would come home from school, open the door, and smell deliciousness.

I looked down at my carrots, smiled, blinked, and realized--with pride--that I now cook up such deliciousness for myself, with a vegan twist, and have been doing so for over a year. It was a decision I made on my own, quite spontaneously. After spending half of my sophomore year locked in the house due to COVID, my heart craved something new, some type of personal growth, some challenge or journey that did not involve Zoom or digital quizzes and assignments.

After moving my thinly chopped carrots to the skillet, I grabbed the mushrooms to chop them. I...