 Hello everyone. Here I am at the front of the beautiful River Thames in England. I just thought I'd make a video to recap the year that has been. It's been quite an emotional year for me and this is going to be quite an emotional video and I'm just really overwhelmed with how far the movement has gone and how far I've gotten as a person too. I mean if you guys have been following me from the start nearly or even just in the last year you can see the transformation that I've had and I'm constantly trying to evolve and make myself a better advocate for the animals and I started this year off with an intention. My New Year's Eve video for the start of 2017 was me sitting in the car and I was talking about my father that had passed away and I was talking about my new intention. My new intention was to do more and I got about halfway through the year and I didn't feel like I'd achieve that and while I was working three days a week and doing my activism on top of that I wasn't in the right state to receive my intention and when I left to go to the UK and I was there for two weeks and I did my first public speech and I met some amazing activists and I was around some inspiring people and this is where things really started to take a turn and this is where I really started to take my advocacy seriously and took it to the next level. I was so inspired and so motivated and I stepped my videos up a notch. I really think that UK trip really set things off. When I got back from the UK I decided to quit my job and start a Patreon page and hundreds of people got behind me and donated. Without Patreon I wouldn't be able to be a full-time activist. I wouldn't have been able to put all this work and effort into all my videos. The emotional physical stress that goes into making and editing and being out there on the streets in heated situations. It's so worth it for me, but without my Patreons, none of that would have been able to come about and the reason that did come about is because I personally didn't want to start a Patreon. I felt like there was something part of my ego that didn't want to accept help. A special person who's close, really close to my heart said to me Joey, you're choosing your ego over the animals. My ego over the animals because I didn't want to accept help. And I feel like if I never accepted that Patreon help, I would have still been working my job and been being able to put 60% into my activism. Now I can put 100% of my heart and soul and blood and sweat and tears. And I'm so grateful for that every single day. So a big part of this transformation I've had is to revamp my YouTube channel. There was about 150 videos that I've hidden. They were important to see how far I've come, but I just don't feel that they serve the animals anymore. There's a lot of swearing in it. I mean, everyone knows the past I come from. So it's been a massive transformation for me. I've taken a really big step here to try to evolve as a person. And I was evolving on camera in front of you all. And I feel like the way I advocate now is what's best for the animals. I could still get better, but I just don't feel like those videos serve the animals anymore. So I've hidden them. They're still there for memories, but just not there for the public to see. I feel like I really want to step it up this year. And a big part of that is the way I conduct myself on camera. It was really nostalgic going through those videos. I mean, my heart was always in the right place. When I started this, I didn't start this to get a big following. I didn't start this to get lots of views. I started this because I had a fire inside my chest. Okay. And I'm just, I'm just growing as a human and I want to share that with people. And it was a desire to spread this message, a desire to help people, to help animals. And I couldn't explain it, but it was here and it was burning inside of me. No, no, I won't pull them out of that hole. I will give them the inspiration to pull themselves out of that hole. And if anyone out there has that, that's your purpose. And it's calling out to you like mine was calling out to me. And that's all I knew is I wanted to spread this message. And that's, that's, that was my intention. And this is how far it's come. And this is really just the beginning for me. This really is just the beginning for me. Amazing things have happened this year. The UK March was one of the most inspiring things I've been a part of. Erfling Edd and Luna gave me the chance to speak to 5,000 people, to pour my heart out. But it was in that moment of helplessness that I realized I can do something. We can do something. We are doing something and we are not helpless. It was a very significant moment. And then we all went to Israel to march with 30,000 people. That was another inspiring moment. I've had many ups and downs, bearing witness inside a slaughterhouse watching cows get there, you know, get decapitated in front of me and just looking these cows and the eyes in their last moments. It was a very, very profound experience for me. And it's made me grow as an activist that really has all this bearing witness to slaughterhouse trucks. And it's been a crazy roller coaster ride. But I feel like I'm ready. I'm ready for what's to come. And I feel like every experience has led me to the next and made me more ready for it. Another thing I want to say is thank you to everyone for all your support through along the way. I really do appreciate it. I mean, to have everyone backing in this struggle and we're all in it together, which is so inspiring. I've had one person in particular who supported me a lot is my girlfriend, Laura. She's been with me every step of the way since I started my Patreon. I talk to her every single day and she supported me wholeheartedly. Another couple of really close friends, James Aspie case really stuck by me and everyone in my comments section, all my Patreons just, you know, pouring their heart out telling me how much I've changed their life and, you know, really, really has helped a lot. It's been amazing to be a part of and I do feel like we're being guided. I feel like, you know, this movement, it's a very noble cause and I do feel like it's inevitable that we get the outcome that we want, which is, you know, animal liberation or animals to be free, to live their life in peace. And that's what keeps me going every second, every day. We suffer together. The animals, the activists, you know, the vegans, you know, we all suffered collectively, but we always need to keep in perspective who really is suffering and the ones that are in the cages, in the gas chambers, you know, on the dairy farms, being exploited, having their children taken away from them. That's always in the forefront of my mind. So my struggles don't really seem that big when I look at it from the animals perspective and that's what I always do and that's what I urge you to do. Always look at it from the animals perspective. It will keep you going through the hard times. It's easy to burn out. I know that it's easy to get frustrated and angry and everyone should, everyone does. But you have to learn to channel that anger. You have to learn to channel that frustration and you need perspective, okay? And you need to do something that's rewarding to, rewarding activism where you're converting people in real time, anonymous for the voiceless type of outreach where you're talking to people, having positive conversations. This is going to help you get through it and never, ever think that this movement isn't growing exponentially by the year. Just this year, I think it's nearly around a thousand percent increase in demand for meat free alternatives. Nearly a thousand percent. That's crazy in one year. Imagine what's going to happen next year. Nearly a hundred thousand people signing up to Veganuary. That's crazy. Challenge 22. It's just going off of its head. So many sign ups constantly. They can't keep up. They literally cannot keep up. The world is changing, okay? And it's because of activists, because of activists like us who are putting their heart and soul and every single last breath into this movement, you know? So yeah, just stay strong and keep going. And I guess we should all collectively set a new intention for 2018 and it should be nothing less than a vegan world. Anything less is betraying the animals. This is what we need to focus on. A completely vegan world where no animal was ever exploited for their bodies ever again. And this is what we need to focus on and work towards and collectively create and manifest. There's no higher calling than this. I don't believe. Service to others and service to the most vulnerable, the most vulnerable, the most exploited beings on earth and together we can make it happen. But we need to think it's possible first. If we don't think this is possible, then we are putting energy into that manifesting. We all need to collectively focus on a vegan world and year by year, year by year, we all chip away at this. We all put our heart and soul into this and believe it's possible and it will manifest. I guarantee you that before I die, we are going to make some massive waves on this earth and it already is happening. So don't ever lose hope. Don't ever lose hope. Now, as for the start of this year, we're going to set off tomorrow. Me and Laura, my girlfriend, also my new teammate. We're going to travel from city to city in the UK and we also go on to Scotland and Ireland. We're going to be doing activist workshops, vigils, AV groups. We're going to be filming the lot, posting it all on YouTube. There's some big things happening this year. A lot bigger than last year. We're a lot more experienced. We've got a lot more strength this year and we're a lot more focused this year and we're going to start to push these industries into the past where they belong. So I guess this video is just to say thank you for standing by me. You've seen my transformation. I mean four or five years ago, I was in a very bad place, a very bad place and you know, I pulled myself out of it and I want to dedicate my life to giving back, giving back to the animals, giving back to people, supporting each other, getting through and just pioneering this movement, really pioneering it, really pushing it out into the forefront of the mainstream. Nothing less, nothing less. Thank you all for standing by me. I just want to say how much I appreciate all the work all the activists putting in. I see you as all, I see you all, every single AV group, every single save movement that I see posting pictures of the animals faces, you know, standing there in the cold, suffering with these animals. I see that, I see that and you deserve to be applauded for that because it's a noble cause and you have the strength of a lion to be out there. I believe that we are putting these positions because we are strong enough to to be there. I'm not saying you always have to be strong, there's going to be times where you break down, okay? There's going to be times we break down but we're all here for you, we're all here to support you and I'm thanking you so much for being there for me too. Okay, now let's all band together and let's all focus our intention on making 2018 the biggest year for animal rights and veganism ever. I'll see you all in the next video and I'll see you all in the new year. Peace.