This adorable pair of cuteness came to live with my wife and I just a few days ago. They are brother and sister and a constant source of amusement and completely adorable. That’s not all that’s going well this week. In just over a week I’ve picked up 9 new clients at my practice. And was contacted by 3 other prospective clients, whom I hope to be able to work with soon. My still growing practice has never had a week like this. It’s very exciting! And stressful. I’m busier and have more work than I usually do. This is what I’ve wanted. It’s a good thing. But it’s also come in a week where I’m distracted by these fun kittens. These cute little kittens that barely let us sleep the first two nights they were here. Now they just harass us for the first half hour or so that we’re trying to sleep.
And sometimes they slash your leg
While sitting at my laptop at the kitchen table, in the same chair as I’m sitting in while writing this, the cute little orange kitten decided he would jump up on my lap. I was wearing shorts. He jumped to my legs, and then he was slipping off. He tried to hold on. Yes, I’m being a bit dramatic. Sure, it bled. It was deeper than I thought such a small kitten could scratch, but it is just a scratch.
This blog isn’t just about my cats. While I was cleaning blood off my leg and looking for bandages I got the idea to blog about how even positive changes in our lives can cause stress and anxiety. The familiar and routine are reassuring. It feels safe. Change can be unnerving and stressful, and can take even longer to get used to than you’d expect.
Major life changes are among the most stressful times in people’s lives. Even when the changes are viewed as positive ones. The Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale (The Social Readjustment Rating Scale) lists 43 stressful life events that can contribute to illness, in order of severity. The first few on the list are predictably very negative, life changing events: the death of a spouse, divorce, separation, imprisonment. Then comes marriage. People choose to get married! It’s generally a very happy event! This, and many of the other events on the list, are things that people look forward to: retirement, pregnancy, adding a family member, change in financial state…it does not say just less money. Suddenly coming into money is very stressful too. Who hasn’t dreamt of winning the lottery?!? Marital reconciliation is on the list! Even outstanding personal achievement!!
When positive things happen to people they often end up feeling like something is wrong with them, because they don’t feel like how they expected they would. They may feel wrong because they don’t realize that change, even positive change, is hard. Needing time to adjust and feeling somewhat uncomfortable with change is normal. Good change is still change, and humans don’t generally do change all that well. With success and challenges come some stress. With growth, growing pains. With getting what we want can come fear of losing it.
It’s really not fair to blame so much of my stress this week on the cats. I haven’t admitted this here yet, but I worry about them. After just a few days, I’m already attached. They’re just so cute and cuddly. The same little guy that slashed my leg licked my face when I first met him last week. The tortie might be even cuddlier than he is! Now they could get out the door when it’s open and get lost. They could hurt each other wrestling (which they do most of their waking hours). I could imagine all sorts of things if I let my worry run away with me. Worry does have the purpose of calling our attention to issues so we can take precautions. The kittens will be micro-chipped soon, and we look for cats before opening the outer doors of the house. Beyond taking these precautions, too much worry just ruin my enjoyment of my furry little friends. With loving something, with having something good, can come fear of losing it. It’s a cost of having positive things in our lives. Sometimes it can hurt, but it also means having something worth caring about.