Fill Your Own Bowl First

Learn from Aragorn's lesson in listening to your body, knowing when to surrender, and why filling one's bowl first matters.

Hi everyone, so pleased to see you all here. And I mean it because I have to tell you I was pretty sick since our last chat. I must have gotten some bug, as hoomans call it. I always knew it was not a good idea to play with those fellas, which is why whenever I see a bug, I bring my hooman's attention to it but do not hunt it myself. So not quite sure how this „bug“ actually got to me… but well, I guess they’re pretty canny.

At one point, I was so sick, I wondered if I’d even make it because I completely lost my appetite and didn’t eat for nearly two days. Surely, you can understand why I feared that was the end of my life.

In any case, I was really tired. So tired, that I could barely walk and surely couldn’t run the household as usual. I could see how lost everyone was without my commands – so lost they finally appreciated them once I got back on my paws.

But that took longer than expected as this bug really got the best of me. It took days for me to recover, and even as I was slowly able to eat again, I could feel how tired my body was. I swear I even lost some weight, so that’s gonna take a while to put back on - you see, I take great pride in my handsome and fluffy body shape, so inviting for cuddles (which technically guarantees them).

While catching up on food certainly isn't something that would normally worry me, for some reason, since my illness, the number of food bowls available to me at all times, suddenly decreased... Of course, being the resourceful cat I am, I will make my hoomans correct this baffling negligence in no time. But I would still expect them to remember at least this one basic rule of the household without me needing to tell them… But as you can see, nothing works when I don’t.

My point is though, that despite seeing everyone’s need for me to run their lives again, which I understand, I simply had to give myself some time to rest and reset. With winter knocking on the door, my energy reservoirs were already decreasing and if I attended to my duties right away, they would get completely depleted. And THEN the end might truly come. And I surely didn’t want that.

So as much as I might have disappointed others, I listened to my body and surrendered. Surrendered to the sweet taste of rest. And sweet it was in the end. Utterly rejuvenating.

And that’s when I realized, it might have not been some mysterious bug, but perhaps, that my body simply needed a reset. You see, under all our responsibilities and stresses of the every day, sometimes we just forget to properly look after ourselves. Yes, even we cats – as much as we are not prone to stress, generally speaking, living with hoomans and looking after them can get pretty stressful. And the weight of responsibility can get to us too.

So a sickness might be our body’s way of saying „hey, stop and take it easy, for cat’s sake!“. And this is the same for both cats and hoomans and frankly any other species. So I listened. And I did rest. Scared enough by what was happening to me, I surely didn't want it to get any worse, last any longer or to be repeated. 

I do have to say, that my hooman was very nice and attentive during this trying time – she gave me space when I needed it and offered cuddles when they were welcome or lay in bed with me giving me her full attention for as long as I needed. After one such nap, I have to say I started to feel better at last. The only way I can explain it is that love heals. As simple as that.

And I could tell it was good for her too. Because looking after me made her stop too – without the nasty side-effects of a bug in her body and a bad tummy. Lucky her. I guess I had to sacrifice myself yet again for the greater good.

After several days, my appetite finally returned and soon after my appetite for commanding the household did too. You should have seen how relieved everyone was! Finally, they don’t have to make decisions for themselves anymore and look after their schedules. Once again, that’s taken care of.

Aww, I almost felt sorry for them. But hey, it’s a tough job not everyone can do. And I wouldn’t change it for anything.

So, if you love your „job“ of looking after your loved ones as much as I do, please don’t forget in the middle of it all, that you matter too. And so does your health. Take care of yourself first, so you don’t make your body stop you in some nasty way as was my case. If you're anything like me, this might come as slightly counter-intuitive because you would do anything and everything for your loved ones and you take your responsibilities seriously, but please, do give yourself some love first. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with taking a few days off for just napping when your body calls, but who on Earth would like to end up not being able to eat for days?!

So yeah, you’ve been warned. Before the best of all pleasures in life is taken away from you by force, think again. Perhaps, it’s well worth it to full your own bowl first.