I LOVE animals. I’m the type of person that prefers almost any type of animal to humans. The type of person that would much rather engage with an animal at a social gathering than the other guests. And I am not sorry about it. Basically all my life, I have been surrounded by pets. Growing up, we had a dog called Lizzy, who my mother tells me would growl at people trying to get too close to little baby me. I loved that dog so much, and thinking about the day she passed away still makes me tear up, almost 20 years later.
About a year later, we “adopted” our neighbors cat, meaning she chose us. And eventually, she gave birth to our current family cat, Kiki, right next to our sofa in the living room. That must have been 17 or 18 years ago… And of course, Kiki is still with us, thriving.
In November 2020, my boyfriend finally convinced me to get two cats of our own. After months (or maybe even years?) of trying to talk me into it. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to own pets. But rather that I thought that our Frankfurt flat was way too small to house them. And I actually still believe I was right, because since moving into our new, twice the size flat, our little babies seem much happier!
But enough chatter about the history of the pets I owned and loved (although it was a nice trip down memory lane for me). Today I want to share three truths I have learned through having pets in my life:
Truth #1: True Love Is Unconditional
The first thing my pets taught me is one of the most important as well: true love is 100 % unconditional.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m definitely not feeling the love for them at 4:30 in the morning, when they have decided it is the perfect time to play tag on top of the duvet. Or they have discovered their food bowl is empty and they are hanging onto dear life by a thread. But no matter how many times they wake me up during the night, or meow at me in the most obnoxious way, or try to make me trip and fall when I’ve got hot tea in my hand (iykyk), there has never been a single moment that my heart hasn’t been just bursting at the seams with love for them.
And I like to think it goes both ways. Because even if I fail to fill up their food bowls at 4:30 in the morning, or scare them by using the blooming vacuum cleaner, at the end of the day they always come to sit in my lap. When they have got plenty of options, they choose to sit with me. Now tell me that’s not love!
Truth #2: What Really Matters In Life
The second truth owning pets has taught me is what really matters in life: eating, sleeping, loving.
I don’t know about you, but I can get lost in all of the things I haven’t got very, very easily. In my opinion, the so-called social media platforms are to blame. It is all too easy to compare your life to that of millions of others. And since it is a very carefully curated “reality” we get to see on Instagram, TikTok and the likes, it is easy to feel like everybody is better off than you. I know it is that way for me, at least.
Just the other day I was watching a Lydia Millen vlog on YouTube, and it is clear as day that she leads a very different life to mine. While I was watching it, I was “interrupted” by my darling cat, and I actually stopped to think…
I don’t need any of the luxurious items I saw said Vlogger talk about. Being present in the moment, with my fur baby, was everything that mattered. And it got me thinking even more: all my pets ever care about, is being fed, get a good 16-20 hours of rest every day, and be cuddled and played with. Maybe we should all start to worry about those things more, too?
Truth #3: Live In The Moment
The last truth I learned by being a pet owner is to live more in the moment. Animals are fantastic single taskers. If they eat, they eat. If they play, they play. If they just sit and observe, they are doing just that. I mean I don’t know for sure. But I’m struggling to imagine that my cat is worrying about what to cook for dinner while she’s chasing a ball through our flat. Or that they would be embarrassed about something they did 10 years ago while trying to fall asleep.
And aren’t they so much less stressed for it? They don’t get tummy aches because they worry too much – something that is very much a thing for humans and beautifully explained in this book. (One of my favorites, I already talked about it in this post!)
So, let’s be a little more like our pets! Focus on doing one thing and one thing only at a time. Be more present. Worry less. We will most likely be happier for it!
best post so far. beautifully written and so true. Keep it up <3
Very meaningful post. 💚