Let me tell you a story about how my cat put my life into perspective. 

The other day, I woke up to a blinking alarm clock…great, I over slept and the power’s out. My car wouldn’t start, so I walked to work in 100 degree heat…crap, I’m going to be late for a meeting. I looked at my calendar, July 5th…sh*t, my rent is late.  On top of that my roommate is messaging me pissed off that my cat was scratching her ‘expensive’ ottoman again. Ugggggg, I thought, “My life is soooo hard”….

In between pouting and eating my lunch, I decided to research, ‘Why Cats Scratch’ and found that these crazy little furballs will sometimes “scratch to relieve frustration when prevented from doing other things they want to do”. Now, I have battled back and forth through blood, cat pee, and tears, with the topic of letting my precious kitty roam the cobblestone brick streets without me accompanying her on her cat leash.  Countless ideas have circled; putting her in a baby stroller to take her on walks, installing a tracking device in her butt, etc.  All the while I could hear her repetitive peak squeaking cry by the back door.  She even went as far as to risk her own life by tearing through the bathroom screen window and jumping off the roof of the house just to get a taste of the good stuff. 

Luckily, a friend of mine-and dumpster diving connoisseur/professional pack rat-was able to construct a homemade cat scratching device (Scarecrow included). So when that sword sharpening toy graced our home, it was the first time in months I have seen a spark of life back in her eyes (and the first time I didn’t feel like I needed to schedule us to be on an episode of Intervention). 

The truth is we all have those days when we feel the whole world is out to get us – even cats. Nothing seems to be going our way or the way we expect it should be. We all have ups and downs to life, but it is how we deal with the downs that matters.  Finding a healthy, alternative way to cope with the everyday frustration will help relieve some of that bottled up anxiety, stress, and anger.