Losing a pet (dog, cat, fish, horse, truly any creature) is losing a major relationship in your life. You mourn what they meant. You miss their presence. Wish for their smell. Weep when you reach for them only to suddenly remember - they’re gone. It’s no different than losing a human and all the agonizing gut-wrenching aches that come with that.
While Valentine’s Day is often focused on romantic love, it’s important to remember that love exists in many forms—and all of them are equally valuable. Platonic love with friends, familial love, love for our pets, and even self-love all deserve to be recognized and honored. These aren’t just feelings to celebrate on Valentine’s Day, but every day. Especially in difficult times, nurturing love in all its forms can be a powerful way to stay grounded.
“A win is a win. That's a major win. And in the family group chat, I saw that you sent a picture of him, which was so cute. He did. He took a selfie. Yeah, because last time we were talking about how your dad is afraid to vote or he was really uncomfortable at the polls.”
“Yeah. He feels like he doesn't know enough and he would always say his vote never made a difference. So he told my older sister, even if it doesn't make a difference, I have to try. And we all just crying. Oh yeah, it was a big day for the family and I mean, yeah, he did it. So out of everything we got something”.
In our culture, mental health is often viewed through a narrow lens of pathology—focusing on individuals and their symptoms. Pain, disconnection, and despair are categorized into neat diagnoses—anxiety becomes a disorder, depression a chemical imbalance, burnout the result of poor self-management. These labels can provide temporary relief by naming what feels overwhelming, offering a sense of clarity about what is “wrong.” But this focus on individual symptoms is ultimately limiting, failing to acknowledge the broader social and cultural forces at play.
In today’s fast-paced world, where stress, anxiety, and overwhelming daily demands are all too common, finding a way to take care of your mental health can often feel like an extra chore on your to-do list. But what if self-care didn’t feel like a chore at all? What if it was fun, engaging, and—dare I say—game-like? That’s exactly the experience I had with Finch, a self-care app that combines the power of gamification with mental wellness practices to help you stay consistent and motivated in your self-care journey.
You are not in this alone. You were never meant to be. Each and every one of us innately possesses strengths to live more enriching, joyful lives; let us help you to (re)connect to your strengths to find well-being.
I’m not sure where the narrative began that avoidance and disconnecting from yourself is a bad thing. I mean, if all you are doing is avoiding life and you don’t even realize when you are doing it…yea that will likely result in some other life challenges. For myself, I actually really enjoy taking a break from my deeper thoughts and momentarily jumping out of my emotions. Intentional avoidance and distraction help us to move further away from a feeling that is daunting or overwhelming - knowing that we will process those feelings later