Photo by Angela Kirk

Since being laid off from my therapy dog job at the end of March, I have had to learn to adapt to a new routine. I admit that I was always curious about what the other dogs in the neighborhood did all day while I was at work. Since being home day in and day out, the proverbial cat is out of the bag. They do absolutely nothing but eat, poop and sleep except for Wednesday when they howl along with the noon tornado siren. So pathetic. I quickly realized that that would not work for me, so the question then became, how do Doc and I settle in to a new routine when we have no idea what will really happen with the pandemic or when it will end?

Quickly I realized that I knew the answer all along and that I could help Doc in the process. Stay focused in the present. Learning to let go of planning for something that we don’t really understand can be a freeing experience. Humans get caught up in the what if’s and this type of thinking can quickly escalate into fear. What dogs instinctually do is only plan for what they have in front of them and adapt based on the information at hand so that they can sustain every day. I understated that staying present focused can be a challenge to the way humans think, but think of it this way, if you use your energy to focus on getting through each day the best you can, you will  have successfully weathered the storm.

Whatever happens, I know that Doc and I will face the unknown together. We always have each other and there is nothing better than that.