For most of my adult life, I lived with a household full of animals.
Three cats and two (big) dogs was the norm. This is one of my favorite photos of the animal crew begging back in my carnivore days.
Animals bring so much joy to my life that even now with a lifestyle of frequent travel and minimalism, I choose pet sitting as much for the opportunity to spend time with animal companions as to see new places.
But inviting an animal with a much shorter lifespan into your world means saying goodbye when it comes to an end.
“Having pets is a contract with sorrow,” my ex-husband used to say.
So when Java, my jungle kitty, began the slow decline into dementia and old age, I anticipated absolute torture.
Java was the only non-rescue animal in our mix; she was a Chausie, bred from the African spotted leopard and the Asian jungle cat. As a kitten, she would chase a toy six feet up a wall and balance on my husband’s palm to kill a fly on the ceiling.
Java would climb into the lap of every visitor and cling to me like a monkey as I walked around the house. She collected pens and left them in piles at the door for us when we came home.
Java’s intense prey drive compelled her to stalk me around the house, and more than once she’d pounce and draw blood. (Just a bit.)
We adopted our second cat, Loki the Gray, in the hopes that Java would attack him instead of me. It worked! Loki became Java’s plaything, and the two of them would sleep entwined.
Java was twenty years old when it became clear her life was coming to a close, and it seemed that she and Loki had their own contract to go at the same time.
When Java and Loki stopped eating, we placed them in cat beds under the radiator for warmth and waited for the end.
In the midst of my grief over losing Java and Loki, I had businesses to run. Book More Brides was in full swing, and The Awakened Business was my new passion project.
On the day Java died, I had no idea how to get through a day full of coaching, but I showed up and had beautiful conversations, despite my tears in between.
At the end of the day, I went to write my reflections in the journal beside my bed. My practice at the time was to rate each day’s inspiration level on a scale from 1-10. Usually my number was a 6 or 7.
But this day, the day my Java left me, was a 10 for inspiration.
I was shocked.
How could I possibly feel inspired, and overflowing with grief, at the same time?
Before that day, I didn’t know how much my heart was meant to feel, and that the fullness of being alive could be so fulfilling. My sadness over losing my fur babies was also full of love and a prayer of gratitude for everything we’d experienced together.
I’m not sure how to transition from this story into an invitation to come work and play with me, while there are still tears in my eyes writing this.
Maybe I can say that there is room for everything in your life, the celebrations and the sorrows, and the IMPACT membership is a safe place for ALL of them. You get to be yourself, and discover the effortless gratitude for the gift of being human.
IMPACT is about life and love first. A profitable business and creating what inspires you are the inevitable outcome of enjoying it all.
https://www.theawakenedbusiness.com/impactinvite
Yours in love and play,
Steph
