What my dog can teach you about mental health.

My dog is amazing, but I think every dog owner thinks that.

He is an (almost) 8 year old English cocker spaniel who isn’t exactly your typical spaniel. Although he has the usual spaniel separation anxiety, and can walk for hours without ever wanting a break, he’s calmer than most. But he’s getting on a bit.

I should probably introduce you - he’s called Dr. Emmett Brown. (If you know you know.)

Last Sunday we took a long walk with friends over the sand dunes, and on the Monday my husband went for a run and Emmett went too - Monday afternoon he had a little limp.

He limps every now and again, when he walks or runs for too long - we messed up and should have remembered his age. So we decided to stop him from any discomfort and let his leg heal - we would limit walks and keep him on a lead rather than let him have periods of running about carefree. All to keep his leg a little rested until he was up to full strength again.

I would do the same if I hurt my ankle - if it ached and hurt I would rest it to let it heal. And nobody would begrudge me this time of healing (you can see where I am going with this).

On Tuesday evening I felt flat - running your own business is hard. It’s hard work and it’s tough on my mental health - all of those common thinking distortions come to play - overthinking, negative focus, imposter syndrome and so on. I could feel it all rising - it was like my mental health was strained. And so, I needed to rest my mind.

Wednesday this week I went for a long walk, I listened to a fun podcast, I had a ridiculously lovely hot chocolate and watched Harry Potter. I sat and worked on the sofa - doing the parts of my job I find fun (writing blogs and newsletters). And, it was GLORIOUS.

Sometimes we need to treat our mental health like we do the physical health of our pets.

Have a great week,

Laura