7 Questions to Ask When You’re In a Mental Health Backslide

And 3 Reminders to Help You Through It

It creeps up slowly, spreading into innocuous crevices until *BAM* you’re suddenly pulled back in its inky grasp, fighting to get out again. This sounds like B-movie monster but it’s actually the experience of backsliding with mental illness. It feels abrupt, overwhelming, and exhausting because it’s come back after a period of hope and improvement.

What do you do now that you recognized you’ve backslid?

Here I’ll share seven questions to ask yourself and three reminders to consider when you feel like you’ve been backsliding in your mental health progress.

Seven questions to ask yourself if you believe you’re backsliding in your mental health:

Is this a reasonable reaction to unreasonable circumstances?

The first reaction may be that you’re mental illness is getting worse when you start seeing yourself struggling. However, we all have uncomfortable emotions for a reason and they impact everyone when the circumstances are tough. Start by considering what’s going on around you.

For example, if you’ve got multiple major stressors going on such as job loss, marriage conflict, and serious illness for you or close others occurring concurrently, it might make sense for you to get distracted more easily or find yourself tearful more often. It depends on the situation.

Consider what you’d tell a friend in the same situation. It might be gentler than what you’d tell yourself. This may help to normalize your experience.

Don’t get me wrong, though. Just because you may be able to recognize your reaction as reasonable doesn’t mean you might not need help and support to deal with the circumstances. It doesn’t have to be taken all on your shoulders. Reaching out to a support network and/or a therapist might help you through it.

 

Has something harmful been added?

If you don’t find your current experience to be in proportion to your current stressors, ask yourself if something or someone has a harmful impact on you. This may be difficult to notice in the moment so try to think back to when you first noticed some warning signs. Hindsight is 20/20 and you’ll likely be able to see them better now than when they started.

Examining in hindsight, once you’ve found when it all seemed to start, look for the new addition. Did someone from your past re-enter your life and unwittingly dredge up bad memories or habits? Has a new addition to your routine hindered you instead of helping you? This takes some knowledge of the self and triggers to recognize if there’s been harm added.

Did something drop off?

Whether or not a new addition may have harmed your mental health, you can always ask if something good has dropped off. Life gets busy and, as I’ve indicated before, it is not uncommon to “put off…daily/weekly/monthly self-care activities one by one until they go missing.” This can go unnoticed if you’re not vigilant.

Some of the activities go unnoticed because we don’t do them deliberately for self-care. Once they’re gone, they have an impact anyway. The ones we do purposefully are easier to recognize being gone. If a positive self-care technique has dropped off, consider getting back to it.

Are you following treatment recommendations?

One of the positive self-care techniques many people managing mental illness have is getting appropriate treatment. Just like most illnesses such as diabetes or endometriosis, lack of proper treatment can lead to it getting worse. Having a provider or providers you trust can help develop manageable recommendations.

I’m not here to tell you what those treatment recommendations are. The best way to get that information is talking to your treating mental health professionals. They can gather information about your circumstances with direct contact to provide recommendations.

Is there a cycle?

If you have a treatment provider that you’ve been working with regularly, they may be able to help you recognize if there’s a cycle to symptom backsliding. However, you can ask yourself this question on your own, too. Is there a predictable cycle of backsliding that occurs regularly?

The cycle I reference is not specific to any particular mental illness that may include cycling moods (such as bipolar disorders). A cycle could be as vague every three months experiencing increased symptoms or every time work enters the “busy season” becoming more irritable and snappy. This often ties in with some of the previous questions, so if you see a cycle, consider the above suggestions.

How’s the weather been?

While weather changes could easily be lumped in with the cycle referenced above or activities being dropped off, I think it’s worth examining on its own. You probably know what weather you like and don’t like but have you considered what it does to make you feel this way? According to an article by Megan Rahm via The Healthy Place, she asserts that weather has numerous potential impacts on mood, behavior and function.

Rahm describes that warm weather can negatively impact your sleep, energy, and appetite, potentially inciting more irritability and anxiety. In colder months, she says, decreased daylight can lower mood and cause an increase in isolation due to staying in more. Extreme weather that may cause damage increases overall stress for people living in areas its common, is also mentioned in the article. Her article puts great perspective on the impact of weather on our overall well-being.

What do close others think?

When you question whether or not you’re backsliding, talk with the people closest to you. They may be able to give you feedback that supports your recognition that something feels off or provide perspective that you may be doing well in the face of adversity. People who know you best may also be able to help examine and answer the questions above.

Three reminders to help you manage the backslide:

Be gentle with yourself.

You are human and you have human emotions. With mental illness, it sometimes may feel like your emotions are more extreme or more alarming than those of others. Everyone experiences uncomfortable emotions and you’re allowed to have those even when your mental illness is well-managed.

You can’t be happy all the time.

Happy is an emotion and, like all emotions, it is temporary. Happy is not a state of being. If you’re expecting to always be happy then every time you feel a normal, uncomfortable emotion you’ll feel like you’re backsliding.

You’ve done it before, you can do it again.

If you feel like you’re backsliding, that means you’ve moved forward at some point. This time, it will probably be faster because you don’t have to do all the learning and trial and error over. You still have the tools and know-how to move forward again!

As you may have guessed if you’ve been following my blog, I usually have a personal story to go along with the article. This one is no different. Recently I’ve noticed signs of a backslide in my management of generalized anxiety.

Here are my answers to the questions above:

Is this a reasonable reaction to unreasonable circumstances?

Not really unreasonable. Work seems to be picking up for me again and I know I tend to be more on edge to meet the change. That only explains the extra adrenaline I have at work, not the rest of what’s going on such as the disrupted sleep, early bedtime, and irritability.

Has something harmful been added?

This hasn’t been going on long; maybe a week and a half. I have let negative thoughts back in, particularly in regards to my endeavors in writing. I’m a patient person only when it comes to others but have difficulty being patient with myself. I’ve got to stay on top of reminding myself I can’t force this process.

I think it’s worth mentioning that I’ve added on free online courses available with my local library. These will hopefully improve my writing skills. While this has shown up in this time period, I do not believe it is harmful. Sometimes, new additions coinciding with backsliding is just a coincidence.

Did something drop off?

Yes. I haven’t been playing video games and started that back up a couple of nights ago. It’s been a couple weeks since I’ve play a board game as well. The husband and I had to be out of town last weekend and missed out on our weekly meet up to play with friends. I’ll be getting back to it this weekend.

Also, yoga. I really need to get back to yoga…

Are you following treatment recommendations?

I am definitely following recommendations. My therapist and I feel the same about my treatment: it will be temporary and short given that I already had a lot of the tools being a therapist myself. I see my psychiatrist as often as recommended and we’re collaborating on a reduction in dosage.

Is there a cycle?

There was at one point which I will share more on in an upcoming article. If not managed, what’s happening now could loop me back into it. I’m recognizing it so that I can face it.

How’s the weather been?

I don’t know if you’ve noticed but in many parts of the world we’ve been experiencing heat waves and record highs. Where I am, the wave just recently broke. I’m thinking this pattern could account for some irritability and sleep difficulties.

What do close others think?

Luckily, I haven’t gotten feedback on irritability so I know that what I’m feeling I’m managing. That’s a huge relief. What I have been told by my husband is that I’ve been going to bed early. He’s talked out the concerns about patience with myself in regards to writing. I’ll continue reaching out to the people who know me best for feedback.

Sources Cited

Nicole, Ali. “The First Step.” Weirdly Well, 7 June 2019, weirdlywell.blogspot.com/2019/06/the-first-step.html.

Rahm, Megan. “The Effects of Weather on Mental Health.” HealthyPlace, 4 Apr. 2018, www.healthyplace.com/blogs/recoveringfrommentalillness/2018/04/the-effects-of-weather-on-mental-health.

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How To Accept Who You Are: A Real-Life Tale of Self-Acceptance

It’s been a long-term conflict for me. On one hand, I have felt rather confident in my interests and personality. On the other, I’ve consistently underestimated my abilities and overestimated my defects.

I realize this is rooted deep in anxiety. Experiencing irrational thoughts of inadequacy is part of my anxiety story. Over my lifetime, it has created a barrier to being able to accept the best parts of myself.

Today, in therapy, I talked about it. It gave me a chance to start examining the path I walk towards self-acceptance. I hope you, the reader, find something in my anecdote that you can use to bring yourself closer to full self-acceptance.

I made my flaws and mistakes part of my self-concept

We’ve all said and done things we’re not proud of. We all have to find a way to deal with those things. Enveloping them in your whole being allows you to acknowledge and work on them to strive for your ideal self.

Some people have a tendency to consider flaws and mistakes part of their past, not to be brought up again. Others create a concept of a bad side that they aren’t responsible for. There are those who develop their self-concept around only what is “wrong” with them.

I propose that our shortcomings are to be learned from, can be as much a part of us as our best attributes, but don’t make up the whole of who we are as people.

My biggest flaw, which has led to regrettable decisions at times, is my temper. For a long time, this was a huge aspect of my self-concept. I was angry. That was me as a person.

There was a time a friend would say I had the most anger per square inch of anyone they’d ever met. I’d use my anger to set up boundaries, express my disinterest, right wrongdoing, manage discomfort, get my point across, handle crowded shopping trips…the list goes on. There would come a time when this wasn’t sustainable.

The impact my anger had on those I love prompted a rearrangement of my self-concept. I had to acknowledge this flaw and rework the image of myself so that it was no longer encompassing my personality. How’d I do that?

Acknowledge: I saw that this was a problem and worked to solve it. I took in feedback and became aware of when and how anger was toxic. Removing it from situations I’ve seen it harm my relationships and changing how I expressed it helped me feel positively about myself.

Accept: Although I am removing my toxic expression of anger going forward, that doesn’t erase the past. Acceptance of what was is how I moved forward. I don’t think back on “what if,” because it serves no purpose. I look forward to continuing to do it differently the next time, and the next, and the next.

Assimilate: Anger was a huge part of me, after all, and it wasn’t always negative. Sometimes it drove me to confront issues that needed attention or react more effectively in the moment. The difference now is that I channel it in a more adaptive way. It’s a part of me in a way that I can feel good about.

 

I’m learning to let it be

The way it is sometimes is the only way it’s going to be. Sometimes changes can be made only at the right time and that time isn’t here yet. Letting it be, whatever it is, reduces the aspects of ourselves we can find disapproval in.

No one can be good at everything. We can’t have everything we want. Now is not necessarily the right time. And that’s okay.

This isn’t to say give up on what is healthy or important to you. But also accept find acceptance in where you are and what you’re working with. It’s not fair to chide yourself over something that may be out of your control or not yet part of your story.

Body: Early on in life I stopped dreaming of becoming a professional wrestler because I was never athletic. I know now that this was based on my physical health condition which makes it difficult for me to build muscle and lose fat. I learned this recently and I’m working on accepting how that impacts my fitness goals, which had long been based around building muscle and flattening my core.

I can either look at my illness as a problem with me and continually be disappointed in myself as my stomach never flattens and my muscles stay minuscule—or I can accept my body as it is and shift the fitness goals to feeling healthy, increasing stamina, improving sleep, and aiding my mental health. I’m reaching these goals by making regular workouts a habit and I can love and accept my body this way.

Brain: My mind is great at understanding other minds, reading behavior, sucking in written knowledge like a vacuum, and memorizing lines and verses. What it’s not great at is strategy and quick reaction. As a gamer, that kinda blows.

The good news is; I’m not trying to be a professional gamer. The bad news is; no matter how poorly I fair at board games or how long it takes me to make it through video games, I still enjoy these activities.  Since this is important to me, I stick at it to have fun and have gotten way better, but I actively accept that I’m not going to be great at it. And that’s okay. I can’t be what I’m not.

I recognized my abilities

Too often, people who have trouble accepting themselves tend to focus on what’s “bad” rather than what’s “good.” Shifting focus to the good and putting efforts into those aspects of the self is the simplified answer to this dilemma. But what if you minimize or don’t acknowledge your “good” abilities?

That was me for a long time. Don’t get me wrong, there was plenty I liked about myself. The anger was one of those things but also my fashion sense and creativity. Yet, there were a lot of aspects of me I downplayed that I’m now working to incorporate in my self-concept. I have to accept these too if I want to fully experience self-acceptance.

When living with anxiety, second-guessing is like breathing. If I thought I was smart, I reasoned that the content was easy or that what I had to share was obvious. When cast in a musical, I reasoned I was a convenient choice rather than a good singer. Impostor syndrome has plagued me a long time and it took more than just me alone to get over this hurdle.

Listen: I’ve received a lot of positive feedback from others but didn’t hear it for a long time. When I chose to listen I found out that others thought my ideas were valuable, particularly in the workplace and at school. The praises of my vocal talent were not out of politeness—I never fished for compliments—these people shared with me their feedback without motive, so I had no reason not to take it in. I started looking at healthy feedback as something I could collect as evidence and use against the doubting voice that would downplay my strengths.

Look: There are tangible, physical reminders of what I do well. Awards from my grad program, published work, letters of thanks, pictures with friends, and happy pets. I consider each of these when I feel like I’m faking or start doubting what I know is true.

Learn: Actually taking in what was seen and heard was a challenge if I was already questioning it before it entered my consciousness. I have had to make a concerted effort to learn about myself from feedback. I had to train my system to accept genuine praise.

This isn't the end of my self-acceptance journey. Life is always moving and changing. This, too, is an ongoing and forward moving process.

Have you given yourself enough credit for your strengths? Have you turned your shortcomings into growing edges you can find success in filling out? Have you set goals that are suited to you?

However you decide to work towards accepting yourself, do it with kindness. You deserve to praise yourself. You deserve to have the chance to grow into the best version of you. You deserve to be in the environment and in situations that play to your strengths. You deserve acceptance.

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Social Media: Friend or Foe?

A look at the contradictory research coverage

There’s been a bevy of new research and articles detailing said research claiming to debunk earlier findings proposing social media is bad for our mental health. Undoubtedly, like any other form of research, some of it is good and some of it is not-so-good. So how do we figure out what’s accurate and what isn’t to make an informed decision about social media use?

Like most dilemmas in life, the answer is complicated, convoluted, and complex. I’ll just be scratching the surface of a body of knowledge that will continue to grow and change. Here is where I think we are currently:

Correlation does not equal causation:

This is a major rule of research and one that isn’t always conveyed when moving from scientific language to layman’s terms. There may be a connection between two concepts but that doesn’t mean the connection represents cause and effect. This seems to be where some research is diverging on social media negatively, positively, or neutrally impacting mental health.

A study published in 2017 reports a link between increased depression and social media use amongst adolescents. This study was based on national survey data between 2010 and 2015. What was found is a link between social media use and increased depression indicators, particularly in females. The researchers, themselves, recognize that there may be a limitation regarding the effects of the great recession on mental health and leave that open for further study. More on that later.

Another study from early this year directly addresses the above findings with a different method of study by tracking the same participants over years, rather than using data compared across diverse participants at different stages in life. While the sample was smaller, the same people were being tracked over time and their social media use examined alongside depression indicators. Social media use was not found to predict depression. The opposite was found for adolescent females; increased depression predicted amplified social media use.

So which comes first? The chicken or the egg? Does social media and mental health truly have any relation?

Consider differences in study participants:

As the 2017 study mentioned above indicated, there is a question of role the recession plays into how increased mental health problems and social media have risen together. Hampton asserts that much of the focus of research on this topic being based around a younger generation which has developed the negative view of social media. He sees it as ignoring the residual impacts of certain events being faced by a generation that just happened to be occurring alongside the growth of social media.

His research released June 2019, which tracked the same sample of participants over time, indicated a reduction in psychological distress over time for adults. The reason? More connection to extended family. The only negative influence on psychological distress was related to family members also using social media increasing in psychological distress. Another study based on a small sample of young adults found benefits to social media use, particularly when kept to 30 minutes a day. Again, these findings directly contrast research done in the UK on children ages 10-15 that once seems to continue to assert that social media has a negative impact on the well-being of young girls.

Click on the link to the research:

I encourage clicking on those links to the real research when you read articles (don’t click on links that seem unsafe, of course!). As you can see above, the explanations of these lengthy studies have been reduced to a maximum of a few sentences like with many articles covering this and other research-based topics. Even articles dedicated to the review of one scientific study tend to have minuscule information in comparison to the full document.

Things to look for when you read the research article include:

• The number of participants. Higher numbers tend to be better. This may depend on the population and aim of study.
• How they were chosen. In an ideal world, participants would be chosen completely at random and represent the population as a whole on a smaller scale. Most studies don’t have this luxury but it is something to keep in mind.
• What the limitations were. There is typically a limitations section and that can give you a lead for where to look next if you still have more questions.
• How applicable the results are to the real world. Some researchers will explain the significance levels. Others will provide percentages and break them down. You can generally find the best information on this in the “discussion” or “conclusion” section.
• A statement about conflicts of interest. This could be something like a social media platform paying for the research that says the platform improves mental health.

When it comes to a topic like your mental health and a behavior you can choose to control like using social media, you should become informed by the research. Further, if you have children and are concerned by the findings, get to know more about it so you can make informed decisions for their use. People like myself are out there trying to provide the most information to you in the fastest consumable way possible. This is a helpful start but you can take it further to truly understand what you’re looking at.

My thoughts on social media and mental health

Like the majority of things in life, I look at moderation as key. If you’re glued to your social media so much so that you’re missing out on social interaction in person, that needs some examining. Kushlev provides perspective on how media technology as a whole can interfere with this and other aspects of life. As earlier discussed, keeping social media reduced to a specific time frame might be useful in maintaining moderation while providing the desired level of connection. Develop rules for yourself such as no social media right before bedtime to keep it from disrupting your sleep .

It’s important not just to take in the research but also monitor yourself as well. You know you best, so keep a watch on what is good and what isn’t when it comes to your social media use. Some research suggests that being active on a social media platform rather than passively taking in the information is better for you, for example. Take what you learn about this topic and keep an eye on yourself to see if it rings true. If you find certain platforms, posts, or persons are negatively impacting your use of social media, consider changing how you’re interacting with these. If something is working for your betterment, maintain it. You can always do some researching to help find the information that fits your experience.

Finally, I believe there are some positive mental health uses of social media. For this blog I keep an Instagram account dedicated to positive postings related to the articles and mental wellness, for example. Social media has been a platform for reducing mental illness stigma and getting information about mental health resources out to the masses.

A new app, currently only available on IOS, called Kinde is focused on providing a supportive social media network around mental health. As I do not own an IPhone, I’ve not been able to explore the app personally, but the IrishExaminer provides a great article breaking down the experience using it. I’m hopeful this will be the start of a new generation of support and goodwill that can turn the tides in favor of positive social media interaction.

Be informed and take care of yourself out there in the connected, app-filled world of social media.

Works Cited

Booker, Cara L., et al. “Gender Differences in the Associations between Age Trends of Social Media Interaction and Well-Being among 10-15 Year Olds in the UK.” BMC Public Health, vol. 18, no. 1, 20 Mar. 2018, pp. 18–32., doi:10.1186/s12889-018-5220-4.

“Discover Mental Health Support or Inspo & Tell Your Story.” Kinde, wearekinde.com/.

Escobar-Viera, César G., et al. “Passive and Active Social Media Use and Depressive Symptoms Among United States Adults.” Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, vol. 21, no. 7, July 2018, pp. 437–443. ResearchGate, doi:10.1089/cyber.2017.0668.

Hampton, Keith N. “Social Media and Change in Psychological Distress Over Time: The Role of Social Causation.” Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 21 June 2019, pp. 1–18. Oxford Academic, https://doi.org/10.1093/jcmc/zmz010.

Heffer, Taylor, et al. “The Longitudinal Association Between Social-Media Use and Depressive Symptoms Among Adolescents and Young Adults: An Empirical Reply to Twenge Et Al. (2018).” Clinical Psychological Science, vol. 7, no. 3, 29 Jan. 2019, pp. 462–470. SAGE Journals, doi:10.1177/2167702618812727.

Hunt, Melissa, et al. “No More FOMO: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression.” Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, vol. 37, no. 10, Dec. 2018, pp. 751-768. Guilford Press, https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2018.37.10.751

Examiner, Irish. “A New Social Media Platform Has Launched for People Who Want to Talk about Their Mental Health.” Irish Examiner, Irishexaminer.com, 10 July 2019, www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/lifestyle/healthandlife/a-new-social-media-platform-has-launched-for-people-who-want-to-talk-about-their-mental-health-935997.html.

Kushlev, K. “Media technology and well-being: A complementarity-interference model.” In E. Diener, S. Oishi, & L. Tay (Eds.), Handbook of well-being. Salt Lake City, UT: DEF Publishers. DOI:nobascholar.com

Levenson, Jessica C., et al. “The Association between Social Media Use and Sleep Disturbance among Young Adults.” Preventive Medicine, vol. 85, 11 Jan. 2016, pp. 36–41. Science Direct, doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2016.01.001.

Michigan State University. “Can Facebook Improve Your Mental Health?” MSUToday, 26 June 2019, msutoday.msu.edu/news/2019/can-facebook-improve-your-mental-health/.

Twenge, Jean M., et al. “Increases in Depressive Symptoms, Suicide-Related Outcomes, and Suicide Rates Among U.S. Adolescents After 2010 and Links to Increased New Media Screen Time.” Clinical Psychological Science, vol. 6, no. 1, 14 Nov. 2017, pp. 3–17., doi:10.1177/2167702617723376.

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Three Major Ways Pets Make Life Better

Recently, my husband and I—oh, alright, I—brought two more pets home.

He wanted to check out the reptile convention and I chided that we would only be going to look. As animal lovers, both of us, we should have known better than to expect we could leave without making a new friend. I was somehow surprised to walk out $300 poorer.

Once Penelope, the cinnamon albino ball python, and a tailless whip scorpion referred to as “The Nope” were set up in their respective tanks, it was clear they were always meant to be with us. Penelope provides me a challenge I’ve never found in my furry companions and The Nope (thrown in with the sale of my snake due to my husband’s interest in her) compliments the odd nature of our lifestyle and interests. They’ve both been a joy to add to our family and we’re looking forward to the longevity both will hopefully gift us with.

These two are the fifth and sixth pets to add to our household and we each have long histories of caring for animals. A home wouldn’t be a home without them. What is it about pets that makes them fit so well into our lives and hearts?

1. Pets provide daily and weekly structure.

Structure helps us plan our day and set up expectations. Pets have needs that tend to provide a daily structure which develops what the Blurt Team calls anchors for important points in the day. If the dog needs to be walked on your lunch break, it can get you away from your desk for lunch and reduce overworking. When the cat meows insistently for feeding time at 10PM, you know it’s time to get off of social media and get the evening routine wrapped up to go to bed on time.

Even at my lowest level of motivation, at my most tired, when I sincerely want to do nothing but stay in bed or on the couch, I know they’re waiting for me to care for them. I have to feed them, they need me let them run around or go outside to use the bathroom, and I must give them attention. Their needs give me something to focus on daily and weekly which helps me move forward and even ties into my own needs.

2. Pets provide companionship.

Most of the commonly kept pets are social animals, similar to humans. Having them around to interact with decreases loneliness. Further, they decrease stress just by presence alone but also when pet, and studies have shown a decrease in blood pressure with these interactions. Pets can also introduce you to other humans by way of being an ice breaker for conversation or literally pulling you in the direction of others.

I certainly never feel lonely with my pets around. The cats, in particular, never let me feel alone—even when I might need a bit of alone time like when napping, for example. It is comforting to know they’re around and they make the house feel full.

Most people who connect closely with their pets will tell you that a pet knows when something is wrong. Many a time have I been crying or stressed they've responded with extra cuddling, head boops, and nuzzling. They’re the best kind of friends because you don’t even need to tell them you need them, they’re just there for you.

3. Pets Can Improve Your Health

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in addition to decreasing blood pressure, pets can also decrease cholesterol levels and lower triglycerides. Having too much cholesterol increases plaque build-up in the arteries which may lead to blood clots. Lowering cholesterol plays a protective role in health. Similarly, the lowering of triglycerides also can benefit the health of arteries. Not only are pets get fun to have around, they can be a truly healthy part of your life.

I could hardly make a causal statement regarding my health and having pets. I’ve been around pets my entire life. What is true thus far is that my cholesterol and triglyceride levels and blood pressure always check out during my annual. I suppose this is just as good a reason as any to thank my pets for being amazing.

Besides what the research or other bloggers have to say about the benefits of having pets, I have personally experienced so many reasons to love the pets in my life:

When my dog lies down in sun to bask in it rather than use the bathroom, it makes me laugh and take a few extra steps to fetch her. 

Often, my cats surround me while I write, providing compulsory petting breaks to appreciate their soft fur and low purrs.  

Most mornings, the ferret climbs to the top level of her cage to see me off for the day and I can’t help but smile walking out the door.

In the evenings, the snake is awake and adventurous. She enjoys exploring about my hands and arms, which fills me with a sense of pride to have helped her feel comfortable in a new space.

The whip scorpion…well, she freaks me out a little. Still, she is neat to watch and brings my husband joy—that’s as good as my own joy.

All that having been said. Pets are not for everyone and not every type of pet is appropriate for all people and lifestyles. I always try to do a great deal of research and consider the costs (time and financial) of any life I bring under my care.

It is important to go into pet ownership well-researched and prepared. While pets bring many good things into our worlds, there are also really good reasons some people can't or won't own a pet. There are some great resources out there describing pros and cons of pet life as well as specific resources for what to expect when looking into a particular type of pet. I've left a couple of general articles here for reference:

The Pros and Cons of Getting a Pet

8 Top Reasons Not To Get a Pet

How have you benefited from your pet being a part of your life? Emotional support, health maintenance, responsibility…share in the comments!

Works Cited

CDC. “About Pets & People.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 15 Apr. 2019, www.cdc.gov/healthypets/health-benefits/index.html.

“Health Benefits of a Low Cholesterol Diet.” University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics, 5 Dec. 2018, uihc.org/health-topics/health-benefits-low-cholesterol-diet.

“Low Triglycerides: High LDL, Diet, Symptoms, Dangers, and More.” Healthline, Healthline Media, accessed 7 July 2019, www.healthline.com/health/low-triglycerides#causes.

Prince, Alicia. “The Pros and Cons of Getting a Pet.” Lifehack, 23 Oct. 2014, www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/the-pros-and-cons-getting-pet.html.

Robinson, Lawrence, and Segal, Jeanne. “Mood-Boosting Power of Pets.” HelpGuide.org, June 2019, www.helpguide.org/articles/mental-health/mood-boosting-power-of-dogs.htm.

Team Blurt. “The Mental Health Benefits Of Having A Daily Routine.” The Blurt Foundation, 8 Nov. 2018, www.blurtitout.org/2018/11/08/mental-health-benefits-routine/.

Tillerman, Leonard. “8 Top Reasons Not to Get a Pet.” PetHelpful, Maven Inc, Updated 4 June 2019, pethelpful.com/pet-ownership/8-Top-Reasons-Not-To-Get-A-Pet.

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