But I Just Saw Ya 5 Minutes Ago In The Living Room

Callie

Lately I’ve been fascinated with pets during Covid. My little girl (Callie – pictured above) is no exception.

I’m not sure if it’s the neediness or the continued challenges with adjusting to me being home a lot more than I ever have been as a result of the Covid pandemic.

Early into the pandemic, I decided that it would be helpful for us to develop a routine (because I could sense that we weren’t adjusting well to this being inside all of the time). So the routine we developed is that every night before bedtime, we meet in the living room of our really small (really, really small) apartment where I pick her up and carry her through the different rooms in our place.

This is where the visual of this story that you’re getting does not take a lot of creativity on your part. The apartment is no larger than 750 square feet so there’s not a lot of room for grand tours.

But there is enough room to look at the pictures of Callie on the fridge and to talk about how beautiful she is as we wander across the living room, through the kitchen, into the bathroom, and the walk-in closet until reaching the bedroom where she settles in for the night. It’s a routine that has worked well for us during the pandemic.

But routines don’t just work for cats, they work for all of us. Having a routine helps reduce the anxiety of the stressful stuff unknown. They help transition chaos to calm; and my thinking is we could all use a little more calm… just sayin’.

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It’s The Middle of the Night….

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

It’s the middle of the night and you can’t sleep. You toss and turn, your mind racing with thoughts of all the things you need to do tomorrow. Suddenly, you hear a loud noise coming from outside your window. It sounds like someone is trying to break in! You panic, your heart racing as you try to figure out what to do.

Fortunately, you’re taking How to Manage Unexpected Stress, an online course that provides you with the skills and strategies needed to manage stress that arises quickly. In this course, you learned how to stay calm and think clearly under pressure. You take a deep breath and remind yourself that everything will be okay.

You grab your phone and call the police. While you wait…