{"id":133,"date":"2013-09-02T06:43:36","date_gmt":"2013-09-02T06:43:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wanderingwithintent.com\/?p=133"},"modified":"2013-09-02T06:43:36","modified_gmt":"2013-09-02T06:43:36","slug":"what-i-learned-from-my-cat-about-travel-anxiety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wanderingwithintent.com\/wordpress\/what-i-learned-from-my-cat-about-travel-anxiety\/","title":{"rendered":"What I learned from my cat about travel anxiety"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAccept each challenge as an opportunity to transform yourself. Never allow yourself to be discouraged.\u201d<\/em> \u2013 Paulo Coelho \/\/<\/p>\n

It is interesting how you can find meaning in normal things that happen in your daily life when you are looking for it. \u00a0A few weeks before starting my trip, during a day when I was feeling a bit of travel anxiety, I took our cat Porridge to the vet for a check-up related to a small scab on his chin. \u00a0Bringing cats to the vet is always an ordeal, because they need to be transported in pet carriers, which for you non-pet owners out there is basically a small portable enclosure you can carry a cat in to keep him from running off.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I\u2019m trying to put Porridge into the carrier, and he is struggling against my will. \u00a0Finally he gives up in defeat and I am able to secure him in the carrier and bring him down to our car. \u00a0As I start driving to the vet, he starts whining. \u00a0Meow. \u00a0Meow. \u00a0Meow. \u00a0This goes on for 2, 5, 10 minutes. \u00a0Constant and consistent agitation. \u00a0To him, I have disrupted his status quo. \u00a0On a typical day, he\u2019ll wake up, stretch, move over to our couch, fall asleep, wake up, eat, walk around, stretch, move to our bed, fall asleep, wake up, eat, …. well, you get the drill. \u00a0He has a routine. \u00a0And today in bringing him out to the vet, he was not happy, and he let me know that. \u00a0The thing is, through all the discomfort, what he didn\u2019t know, but I did, was that he was going to the vet, and the vet would ultimately help him be better, more healthy. \u00a0Of course, when he got to the vet, he was perfectly fine, realized it wasn\u2019t so bad to be there, and was playful, even.<\/p>\n

As my trip approached, I had some trepidation and anxiety around the idea of traveling on my own for 3 months. \u00a0 Being on my own. \u00a0Without friends and family. \u00a0For an extended period of time. \u00a0In an unfamiliar culture.<\/p>\n

Usually it was just in the back of my mind, but sometimes it came crashing out to the front as well. \u00a0When that happened, what calmed me was remembering that, like with Porridge, these feelings were normal. \u00a0I have been in my own routine – wake up, go to work, come home, spend time with my wife, hang out with friends on the weekend, repeat – that is being disrupted. \u00a0Now that I’ve arrived in Southeast Asia, things are going perfectly fine, and it has been a lot of fun (more details to come). \u00a0And additionally, like Porridge, I\u2019ll be a better me as a result of my trip when I get back home.<\/p>\n

Lessons Learned<\/span><\/p>\n