It’s that time of the year again…
…when we’re expected to set irrational goals and follow them!
Whelp! As King Theoden says, “So it begins.”
It’s that time of year when you’re expected to set those overly ambitious goals for the year. As we begin the new year with good intentions, resolutions typically focus on improving our health and lifestyle. This article will discuss how we can approach a few typical resolutions with a little bit of help from our feline buddies. If you’re having a tough time getting motivated, here’s a few common resolutions where cats can get involved and sometimes teach us a lesson or two:
Exercise more
Practice better eating habits
Get organized
Practice more self-care and relaxation techniques
Resolution #1: Exercise more
The following are just a few silly ways to incorporate brief amounts of activity into your routine while bonding with your cat family.
Even though it’s possible to train a cat to walk on a leash and go for walks, it’s a bit cold around this time of year, so that would just add another impractical goal to the list of resolutions. My alternative to this form of exercise is to use cat wand toys to encourage Phoebe (and myself) to take small walks indoors. Since Phoebe loves to be chased, I provide plenty of hiding spaces throughout the apartment and encourage her to run, hide, and play when she gets spurts of energy.
Speaking of walking indoors, Smokey used to encourage me to add a few extra steps to my day after shopping as he would step into cardboard boxes, plastic, or any other material I had just emptied after shopping. While I finished unloading shopping items, Smokey would patiently wait inside half of a cardboard box or anything else that could allow me to be his chauffeur throughout the apartment. Much like kids being pulled in a wagon across the playground, Smokey seemed to enjoy this form of attention.
To make this a little easier for me and to cut back on spreading germs in the home, I decided to encourage him to sit on a blanket which allowed me to walk him around the home without bending or stooping. In the video below, Phoebe helps me demonstrate how to use a floor pillow and shoulder strap (taken from one of Phoebe’s pet carriers) as a substitute for a wagon.
Besides walking, yoga is a common form of indoor exercise. Many YouTube videos demonstrate how to do yoga using cats a substitution for weights. You can watch videos of this type by going to YouTube and searching “yoga with your cat.” This type of search will show some hilariously entertaining ways to get more exercise…if the cats in your home don’t mind being picked up and cradled, of course. If you’ve ever tried exercising or doing yoga near a cat, you may be able to relate to YouTube videos titled “Cats Interrupting Yoga” and “Cats Interrupting Exercise.”
Resolution #2: Practice better eating habits
This one’s a short tip that Smokey and Phoebe have taught me. Many cats have already demonstrated their secret. That is, graze instead of eating too much at one time.
Resolution #3: Get organized
Cats everywhere are already trying to help us declutter as they knock items off of tables.
Just watch this video of Phoebe as she begins to remove the clutter of flameless candles from her cat tower during the holidays.
I guess we should take notes when cats help us declutter and ask ourselves if we really need that many knick knacks on shelves and tables. So, how can we get organized and keep things convenient at the same time. Smokey provided extra motivation with this goal soon after he reached his senior years and I added a few routines to our daily schedule. I wanted to give Smokey extra care during his senior years, so I began looking for ways to save time during my morning routine.
Since I rarely had a chance to organize my home at once, I simply reorganized as needed in brief five- to ten-minute increments. For example, if I noticed a few items were placed in an inconvenient location, I spent a few minutes making space in a more convenient spot. All of those brief moments of rearranging items and accomplishing small tasks lead to a more organized home with commonly used items within easy reach and less frequently used supplies on taller shelves. This practice also prevented me from forgetting things like taking vitamins, getting the cell phone, etc. I could just take a brief glance at a couple of locations in my home and know that I was prepared to leave for work or school without forgetting anything.
Resolution #4: Practice more self-care and relaxation techniques
According to research studies, cats can help us out with this goal.
We probably already know this as we tend to instinctively reach out to cats when we want to relax. After all, it is very calming to be near a purring cat. On several occasions, Smokey showed me the beneficial impact of a cat’s purr. Within the three years of living in Houston, I frequently dealt with sharp pains in my head but experienced relief soon after Smokey joined my home as a kitten. I found it hilarious that he would insist on sleeping on my head at night but was blown away when I would wake up with no headaches. There was another occasion when I got home from work and realized I had torn a muscle in my leg. Smokey slept next to the injured spot as if he sensed where the most damage occurred, and the achiness was gone within a few hours.
Click here to read a short article that discusses other ways cats may improve our health.
So, I guess this will be a happy new year with Phoebe as my new year's resolution coach.
