It’s 4:45 p.m.
I just finished eating. Leg and thigh, some beans, a side salad.
Water bottle next to me.
The wind is hitting my face, so I close my eyes for a second.
Somewhere off to my left, I hear a police siren.
For a moment… everything slows down.
And I realize—this is kind of what my pets have always done for me.
I’ve only really had two.
A dog named Goldie. I picked her up in 2006.
I used to call her G-Money.
She passed away in 2024.
And now I have a cat—Simba.
Orange. Calm. Just sits there sometimes, looking out the window like he understands something I don’t.
That’s my whole experience with pets.
But both of them gave me the same thing.
They don’t care about money.
They don’t care about deadlines.
They don’t care about all the noise.
They eat.
They sleep.
They want to play.
And somehow… they pull you out of whatever rush you’re stuck in.
They make you slow down.
And maybe that’s why they’re good for people like me.
Because life can feel like:
go, go, go, go.
Work. Drive. Deliver. Think. Repeat.
But then a dog looks at you.
Or a cat just sits there.
And for a second… you stop running.
Maybe the best pets aren’t about what they do.
Maybe it’s about what they stop you from doing.
Reader question
What’s something in your life that forces you to slow down?
────────────
Subscribe
If this hit you… you can stay. I’m building this little by little.
Leave a Reply