I have so much downtime with reading week and flex week, but I know I will be spending most of it with my pets.
What I've noticed is that this project is very person-specific; how I feel around animals isn't necessarily how somebody else is going to feel. I was at the dog park today and I was speaking with a friend about her experience with pets. She never had animals growing up, but decided to get a dog in her late 20's. She said it was LIFE CHANGING. She cannot remember a time where she didn't have a dog... Then it led her to get cats. Again, she said she cannot remember a life without them. She talks about how much they calm her down, having moderate anxiety herself. The pets have been crucial to helping her calm down during panic attacks.
It is INCREDIBLE just how much people light up when they talk about their pets. They aren't just animals... they are family.
WHAT'S NEXT?
This week I am hoping to focus on my TED talk and explain what my project is really about. It's such an emotion based project so I am very concerned that my research and progress will not shine through the way I want it to. I haven't focused on the science part of everything as much as I am focusing on the emotional side of it. I don't think everyone experiences this the same way, so I am trying to approach it in an open-ended way so that it encourages others to do the same. Science might give us facts, but science can't make you feel the love of a pet.
This week I had an anxiety attack and the first thing I was able to focus on besides the "impending doom" was the purring of one of my cats. It was incredible just how fast I was able to change my breathing and calm down.
Let's face it... It's hard to be miserable when you are completely engulfed in kitty love.
 |
| Taylor Simons. "Herd of cats". 2017. |
No comments:
Post a Comment