A Gratitude Break

I am so very grateful that I can write. I can express what I am going through and, once it is out there, it allows me to examine my feelings more thoroughly. And I am even more grateful to you for reading what I have written and giving me feedback.

There is still a stupid social stigma associated with mental illness. I hope that by writing about what I go through you may realize that you are not alone. There are others out there who know exactly how you feel. Sometimes the difficulty is in finding those people.

I am grateful that I have access to health care when so many do not. While I don't like the fact that I have to rely on pharmaceuticals to balance my brain chemistry, I am grateful to have them. And the wonderful doctors and other members of my care team are so quick to respond when anything changes.

Much of the time I feel anxious but otherwise okay. For those times when I don't, I am thankful that help is only a phone call away.

Since I write about a myriad of subjects, I am always on the lookout for inspiration. Anything that can draw my attention is fair game. Did you know that today is National Men Make Dinner Day? No? Well, now you do. I found out myself only a couple of days ago.

But what I like to write about the most are the everyday occurrences that many people may pass by without noticing.

1. When the cool autumn breeze lightly brushes your face just right and makes you notice the changing leaves for the first time this year. 
2. When the kitty has just given herself a bath and feels extra fluffy and soft.
3. When that first sip of coffee is just exquisite. 
4. When your hands are warmed by the mug of hot chocolate someone fixed for you when you returned from a walk outdoors in the winter.
5. When you have washed the last dirty dish and you turn and there are not dirty pots and pans on the stove.

What does your writing do for you that makes you grateful for the ability?

Do you want to suggest something that you wish I would write about?

How My Cat Helps

My little cat is tearing around the house. She's attacking the rugs, the bedclothes, the couch, the floor. It is so much fun to see her play.

It is frustrating to her to play with things like yarn and dangly toys because she is blind in one eye and it seems the vision that she has is failing. She will get upset and bite her own legs.

She has seizures. She has been having them about every two weeks. Last Tuesday I was going to rejoice that it had been an entire month since her last one but she woke me at 4:30 in the morning with the plaintiff yowls that signal that she has just seized.

Seeing her speed through the house today reminded me of an article I saw this morning. It is about saying "to heck with it" and living in the moment.

Finding that article was also serendipitous in another fashion.

Earlier, a friend and I had been commiserating about the ways our illnesses were similar. We both just want to feel normal. We are both so tired of fighting. We are both so tired of having to be strong when our illnesses make us feel weak. We are both tired of the undertow taking us out when we are swimming as hard as we can.

We read the article and we agreed that sometimes you just have to put everything else aside and do something nice for you. It made us feel a bit better.

It also made me look for other articles on the joy of living in the moment and I found this one about what dogs can teach us.

But, today, it was my little cat that made me laugh and feel like things are good for the moment. When everything else seemed handcrafted to get me down, watching her go a little crazy made me smile.

My cat and my dog are not luxuries. They are my links to living for today. Sometimes it's a case of living just for today, and worrying about tomorrow when tomorrow comes.

My cat helps me stay in the here and now. That's how my cat helps me.

How do your pets help you?