Stop Worry Be Happy

NOTE: As of next week, this blog will be hitting your email box on Tuesdays instead of Wednesdays, because we’ve got a whole NEW blog about coaching and art and all sorts of things coming out on Thursdays. More later.

As many of you know, we’ve lost 2 cats in the last 5 months. That’s 2/5 of our cat population. We miss their fuzzy faces. Nose counts are easier, but it’s not the same without them.

Our eldest was the first to go - Lynkx. He got thin, he ate all the time, we couldn’t find anything wrong with him - and then he died. He was around 15-16 years old.

The next to go was the one who became the eldest - Torbie. She got thin, she ate all the time, she showed some problem with white blood cells in her blood work, so got started on an antibiotic to help with that. Then she died. She could have been 12, she might have been older. We don’t really know.

Now the eldest is Ry - he’ll be 9 in August. Hardly old, but he’s the oldest. He’s also the one I love best. I’m not supposed to say that. I love all of our fur family, madly, deeply, and forever. But somehow he’s wormed his way into my heart in a special way. I don’t love him to the exclusion of the others - I just love him best.

So of course my reptile brain went straight to “OMG, he’s oldest!!! What’s going to happen??? He’s going to get thin, he’s going to eat like a maniac (nothing new there), we won’t be able to find anything wrong with him - and he’ll DIE. And it will all happen in the next few months, because that’s what happened with the others.”

Sounds ridiculous doesn’t it? But our minds do strange things to us, like worry about whatever happens to be in front of our faces. 

Even us, the ones theoretically plugged in to some strange device that allows us to talk with animals and who knows what else, who should know better, even we worry and do a lot of “what if”-ing.

When I caught myself having those thoughts, I had to stop and pull myself up by the heels. 

What does worrying do for me? Absolutely nothing. What is it I always say? “You get what you focus on.” Well, I don’t want to focus on Ry getting sick and dying! What can I do instead?

Here’s the crux - I stay in the moment. It’s not easy to be in the moment. There’s always something lurking in the background asking to be worried about. But I stopped that train of thought at the first curve and sent it right back to the station. It wasn’t serving me. And it definitely wasn’t serving Ry. 

So I laugh at his antics and I enjoy every second we have together. Sometimes he allows his brother Jackson to cuddle up. Last night they were both on Glenn’s lap - so sweet. Then Jackson left (he doesn’t stay long, and being on Glenn’s lap was a VERY BIG DEAL), and Ry came over to my side of the bed. He curled up beside me. Ahhhhhh. 

Who needs to worry? It’s unproductive. Our pets would be the first to tell us that, because they live totally in the moment. Let’s be more like them, and let our reptile brain have a holiday. Maybe it will worry less while it’s sitting under a palm tree, enjoying a frosty beverage.