I’ve been thinking a lot lately about getting a dog.
I’ve been telling myself, and others, for the last year and a half that I don’t want a dog. I live in an apartment, it costs extra to have a pet, I’d have to go out in all kinds of weather to walk it, etc.
The problem is, I’m still having a bit of a hard time with the whole empty-nester thing. I have no purpose other than going to work and church. On my days off I find myself bingeing on Netflix or watching movies – in other words, I’ve turned into a first-rate couch potato. I get out on occasion, but not nearly enough.
I’m not doing things around the house regularly either, like cleaning. This is also one of my symptoms of a depression. I have a couple of books and a screenplay I started writing that I have let go dormant. I don’t write as often in this blog and I’ve become quite negative at work, which is never a good thing. In other words – I’m not really living.
I have started to change little things to get out of this funk, like joining a group talking about intentional living, but I lived so much of the last 14 years raising my kids that I just miss nurturing, I think. Now I need to figure out how to nurture myself, because we, as parents, can get a bit lost in our kids. That’s why it is so hard to adapt when they inevitably leave home. Some days, more often than I want to admit, I need a reason to get out of bed and enjoy the day.
So, in return for the help a dog would give me, I will help the dog too by adopting one out of a shelter. This isn’t something that will happen right away, I need to save up the money for a pet deposit at my apartment, and an adoption fee, food etc., but the plan is definitely more solid than it was at the beginning of the year – and by that I mean there was no plan…
It may be a small purpose, a small step in intentional living, but that’s how progress is made, right? One step at a time.
Just Breathing... 