Vitamin P: How Patience Can Help You Build Vegan Habits That Last

For me, there are three natural “begin again” moments every year: New Year’s, the day after my birthday, and back-to-school season. They are the moments that invite us to pause, recalibrate, and ask: What is working? What isn’t? What needs more care, attention, or a change of pace?

In this episode of the More Plants podcast, I’m sharing the lesson that carried me through a rocky start to the summer: patience.

After an Irish-dance performance led to a significant foot injury, daily physical-therapy sessions, major questions around returning to dance, and difficult nights caring for our 17-year-old dog Vega, I noticed something important: I was judging myself constantly.

I was judging my body for not healing fast enough, my energy for dipping after sleepless nights, my work for moving more slowly than I wanted, and myself for not having every decision figured out immediately.

That is where my new mantra came in: Vitamin P.

Patience is not passive. It is not sitting still, waiting for life to magically sort itself out. It is taking the first small, useful step today—without demanding that you already know every step that comes after it.

In this episode, we talk about how patience can help you:

• Build more vegan and plant-based habits without becoming overwhelmed

• Stop treating one difficult meal or one off-plan day as proof that you have failed

• Focus on the next practical step rather than every future social event, holiday, or challenge

• Create momentum with small actions, from stocking the fridge to making one new meal

• Approach movement, recovery, work, study, caregiving, and change with more self-compassion

• Let go of “crystal ball mode”—the urge to predict exactly how long everything will take or the steps needed to complete it

• Use a simple journaling practice to identify what patience looks like in each area of your life and personalize this for you

If you are starting a new vegan journey, returning to routines after summer, learning to cook more plant-based meals, recovering from a setback, or simply trying to make a change without burning yourself out, this episode is for you.

Try the Vitamin P journal prompt

Choose one area of life that feels difficult, uncertain, or frustrating right now.

Ask yourself:

What would this look like if I added patience—but still kept moving forward?  

Then make it specific. What is the next single step?

It might be buying fruit and vegetables for the week. It might be making a list of three familiar meals you want to make vegan. It might be putting your walking shoes by your bed. It might be resting. It might be asking for help. It might simply be beginning again tomorrow.

At More Plants and at Brownble, this is the approach we bring to plant-based cooking too: practical, gradual, joyful change. Building systems that can last, but where you do all the layering and deisgn so that the change works for you. Click play above and tune in!

For all the links mentioned in today's episode, click here or visit https://www.brownbleprograms.com/blog