Vampirisim
According to Anne Neville, a researcher on real life vampires, they are "modern people who believe that they need to be psychically or physically nourished by blood or energy drawn from other humans" and are often misunderstood (10).
While media brings many fictional vampires, there are genuine real life vampires in the real world. The genuine vampires wish others didn't jump to conclusions and assume that they were vampires too as there are many other possible explanations for symptoms of vampirism such as a sun allergy rather than being energy sensitive.
click here to learn more about the symptoms.
Real life vampires can be defined as two different types, psychic and sanguinarian. Sanguinarian fulfill their desire for energy by drinking blood while psychic vampires fulfill their energy cravings through other means.
for more information on the different types, click here.
However, being a vampire isn't something they choose to be, it's an explanation for why they feed on energy of others. But letting themselves engage in feeding on others and event organizations for moral support is a lifestyle they choose to live.
for more information on vampire activities, click here.