Preparing for Your Senior Pet Emotionally and Soulfully

“We are faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as unsolvable problems.” ~ John W. Garner

Going through the stages of life with your pet is something you cannot take for granted. During their younger years, they can experience more active times. Or, if they are special needs, your bonding will be cultivated perhaps differently. And, as you watch your pet grow older you will go through an assortment of even greater emotions. Unexpectedly, you feel your own mortality creep in. So, preparation is not only helpful but rather necessary.

All experiences in your life will be considered by you, good or bad. You must “decide” how you are going to process these situations.

Life is a journey; a feeling journey actually. And, this journey never truly ends. All of your endeavors, your dreams, and your relationships are never finished and are never wrong. This is what a true journey is. You keep moving and you keep learning.

It is necessary to take your time (really take your time) and be gentle with yourself through all of your changes, and it is necessary to keep moving forward, finding the good in everything you experience.

As you achieve one goal, you will have new ones. Life doesn’t stop. The journey continues with or without your consent. You, however, can decide to lean into the journey or fight it. It’s going to go on with you on the field or with you sitting on the bench.

When preparing for your senior dog or pet, remember that they are part of your adventure and you, theirs. It never ends and neither you nor they get anything wrong. Living your life doing your best and living in the moment with sincere appreciation, is where you want to be.

Preparing soulfully and emotionally for your senior dog is much easier when you are already living a lifestyle of gratitude. People begin to live in regret when they are not present and by default, choose to complain.

Guilt spawns when you live in the past and think in “could have’s”, “would have’s” or “should have’s”. Living in guilt mode is a way of life for many people. This is a dire day-to-day way to live. Not fun. Nope, not fun at all.

Preparing for your senior dog soulfully and emotionally is a conscious process. You take everything as it is and you do whatever it takes to do what you can. You either decide to live in the moment or not. Vacillating back and forth does not work.

You don’t blame any person, you don’t blame your pet, you simply do whatever it takes to find the good in each moment. It may truly be a difficult situation, your worst day ever, or it might be one of your best days. Either way, you find the good every single day. Make this ritual habitual. The next few tips on preparing soulfully and emotionally for your senior pets are inspired by a little book of quotes, Whatever it takes – A Journey into the Heart of Human Achievement from notes from the Edge Learning Institute.

If you follow my Instagram profile “love4ranimals”, you’ll see I put many quotes on photos I took of Coco and Skylar. The message of “whatever it takes”, is how I approached losing Coco and Skylar (16 and 17 years old respectively). They transferred energy four months apart. That was a hard year.

A huge chunk of my heart went with them and for me to feel whole, perfect, and complete (without them) was a process, a slow process. But, I learned to create my life consciously. My blame game stopped.

The journey begins now and as you find the good in every situation, face each day doing whatever it takes, and appreciate your present moment, you’ll be just fine.

Remember, your pets are part of your journey, and you, theirs. It never ends and neither you nor they get anything wrong. Living your life doing your best and living in the moment with sincere appreciation, is where you will be.