Woman's Best Friend

Photo by Jonas Vincent on Unsplash


Within the past week, I came frighteningly close to saying “fuck it all” and becoming a recluse. I’d been fighting with my boyfriend and got into an argument with my best friend (because why piss off only one person, when you can piss off everyone close to you?!)

I sat in my house, all alone, thinking without these two people in my life, I would probably never go out. Then I thought fine. Maybe that’s for the best. I could just stay in my crappy little house with my cat and Netflix forever until I die. Then my cat would eat me.

Yeah, I get morbid, I know.

I worked through my problems and made up with the two people I’m closest to. All is well.

Then I decided to get a dog.

I’ve been thinking about it for months. I’ve always loved dogs and had a Jack Russell, Libby, that died tragically at age 14. She was my baby. She was with me through three marriages, countless illnesses & diagnoses, depression, and panic attacks.

I’m sure you’ve heard of pets being used as emotional support animals – it’s a trend that’s become quite popular. Dogs are so good for this. Libby was a wonderful support partner. When I was depressed or anxious and crying, she would always comfort me. My cat is all about the cuddles, but when I get upset she doesn’t want to have anything to do with me. I think the sobbing startles her. 😅

The dog I am adopting is also a Jack Russell, and I’m absolutely elated. I’m told he’s very cuddly, and I really hope he’s as good at comforting me during mental health breakdowns as Libby was. 

My best friend pointed out that shortly after considering becoming a recluse, I decided to get an animal that will require me to go outside a lot. And it’s really stinking cute, so you know people will want to talk to me.

Maybe that was a subconscious decision. 😊

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Do No Harm. Take No Shit.

Image
  I feel that living by the basic rule of "Don't be a dick to other humans" is pretty simple. Apparently I'm in the minority with this way of thinking. Holy cannoli has that been a hard lesson to learn this year! I haven't posted in 11 months. Posts had gotten few and far between for about a year prior due to mental health stuff, but this past year... man ... talk about a roller coaster of emotions! Between the pandemic, everything leading up to the election, and personal issues, I'm quite impressed with myself for not getting put in a padded room!   What it boils down to is this: It is now very apparent which people are kind, and which people are blinded by selfishness, ignorance, and fear of change - and therefore quite unkind.  I told an anti-masker that if I thought there was a chance that jumping up and down on one foot every hour on the hour would keep someone from getting sick, I'd do it. I hate wearing masks. HATE IT. But I do it because if I didn
Read more

Respect Street - It's a Two-Way Road that Family Should Travel Together

Image
I've been watching Love, Victor. It's a series on Hulu in the universe of the movie Love, Simon, which is a hit movie about a teenager's journey to coming out as gay.  Love, Victor stars a Latino family with a teenage boy who is trying to figure out his sexual identity. He knows he's attracted to boys, but finds that he is also attracted to girls. His family is very traditional and Catholic, so Victor is afraid they will not accept him.  I love shows/movies like this because not only is queer representation in media so important, but also because I identify with the characters so much. While my parents aren't particularly religious, my grandparents are, and image is very important to them.  In the episode I'm currently watching (season 1, episode 5), Victor's grandparents come to visit for his 16th birthday. His mom is in panic mode because her mother-in-law is always incredibly judgmental of her every move. Victor invites his girlfriend, friends, and the bo
Read more

How To Avoid Your Feelings in Three Easy Steps!

Image
Same, Zooey Deschanel. Same.  Greetings, from your super slacker neighborhood anxiety blogger. Yeah, I know I never post anymore. It seems as though over the last 6 months or so, I’ve resorted to thinking about life (and all my issues) as little as possible, as a way to not freak out over them. It worked for a while. Things seemed to be going relatively well. Sure, my contact with the outside world was slowly diminishing – even texts to my partners were slowing considerably – but surely if I avoided my feelings by any means necessary, everything would be hunky dory, right?  How To Avoid Your Feelings in Three Easy Steps :  Mindlessly play games on your phone Watch Netflix whenever you should be cleaning Focus on literally anything  other than your actual life Yeah, I’m not fooling anyone. In the past few weeks it’s really caught up with me. It’s the two-year anniversary of my husband saying he wanted a divorce. It’s hard not to remember - it was
Read more