My Dog, The Best Medicine for Anxiety

The best medicine your GP can’t prescribe 🐩⠀

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Do you ever just have those days where you end up lying on the floor?⠀

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I mean yeah we have these fancy things called sofas now but nothing beats the floor right? Yes? No? Just me?⠀

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Bad day? Floor⠀

Pain day? Floor⠀

Overthinking? Floor⠀

People are around and it’s making you anxious? Floor⠀

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Recently lying on the floor hasn’t been helping my ‘down’ day. It used to be my quick fix break from my head and body. At least for a while it would quell my anxiousness and redirect my thought bubbles. It would tether me to the present, rather than pinging between past and future portals in my own little anxiety tardis. A tardis that also happened to be invaded by...well in this analogy? To keep it light let’s call them daleks, tasha daleks. ⠀

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For the past month the floor has not been my Dr Who coming to the rescue (sorry getting carried away with this analogy aren’t I). I guess it never has been (so unfortunately I have not discovered the answer to the world’s mental health problems 💛)⠀

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It was lying on the floor and hearing these little claws clatter across tiles and creep across carpet to join me. It was lying on the floor & having this little fluffy warm beat lie into my side, whose presence was an unspoken ‘I love you’. ⠀

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It was unconsciously (after 14 years) reaching down and knowing a fluffy head or hinde would appear. It was lying on the floor & having her steady breathing realign mine, like a metronome. Constant.⠀

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Mino was, in this growingly dystopian world, my constant. My reminder to not take life so seriously, to remember what really matters & to be more dog 🐾⠀

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She was my hack to mindfulness and meditation without having to actively drag myself out of a spiral. My get out of jail free card. My cheat to a better day. ⠀

We might have been lying on the floor but it was her that was keeping me grounded.

I don’t know if I can speak for everyone with a chronic illness/mental health condition but I know a lot of us can end up feeling like a burden. ⠀

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It can be hard to accept that the people who say they love us really do. In fact it can drive you crazy cause you just see yourself as this massive problem. You physically cannot see yourself outside of this box that over the years you’ve taped yourself into.⠀

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However love from your dog...well from my experience? It can be the only form of love your brain will believe & accept sometimes. The only kind you can receive & not want to scream from guilt. It’s a pure love, no fish love, no lies, no guilt, no superficial reasoning behind it. It's real. It's raw. It’s healing.⠀

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There is probably some sciencey, chemical, hormonal reasons dogs can make us feel this way. In fact it’s probably got something to do with oxytocin but in its simplest form? It's love. Unconditional love.⠀

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The amount of people who have got dogs over lockdown does scare me, like I am sure it does any animal lover. The increase in puppy farms and over breeding etc...BUT it also gives me hope that someone else is going to find their healing. I couldn’t deny anyone of that.⠀

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Dogs huh? The best medicine your GP can’t prescribe. ⠀