A cat's lessons of enoughness

How to find inspiration and strength in the mundane

My cat, Tiger, walked into my life almost 17 years ago with a broken tail and a timid soul. 

At first, I called her Millie. She seemed sweet, frail and cuddly. But that changed very quickly. Within a few months, she became Tiger.

I remember her, on that first day in my house. She was so hungry si è mangiata anche i muri ( she  ate even the walls, Italian expression to describe a very hungry person) 

Over the last years, she’s made me into a cat person.

I can’t imagine my life without her purring in my ear at night or sleeping in my lap during my Italian classes. 

Now more than ever, she’s a Tiger. Brave and fearful at the same time.

 

I realized it yesterday when I took her to the vet. It was a visit I kept postponing out of fear of what the doctor might find. She’s almost seventeen after all.

The vet decided to run some blood tests.

It took two doctors - one of which was a buffed-up guy in his thirties- to block and take a sample of blood from this tiny, apparently frail slip of a cat. 

The vet looked at me and said  E’ davvero Tiger!  She’s indeed Tiger

Tiger never thinks it’s too late. She doesn’t think she’s not enough. She doesn’t think she’s too old. She doesn’t think she’s too small.  And when she wants something, she asks for it.

And she’s right.

In a world that constantly tells us that we’re lacking something to be entirely happy, be it age, looks, technology, or income,   she’s a constant reminder to me of what a strong sense of self can do. 

It’s not too late. 

It’s not too soon.

We’re not too old 

We’re not too young.

We’re not lacking anything. 

We don’t have to wait. The right time to turn our dreams into reality is whenever we feel ready.

You can take one tiny, brave step today and move closer to what you’d like to be. 

Whether it is to speak Italian, learn to rollerskate, find five minutes in the day for your own writing or simply to be more assertive. 

Don’t wait for the right moment. Create it for yourself right now. You’ll be amazed by what you can do. 

We keep looking for that spark far away from us. As if it were distant.

What if instead of looking for life inspiration and bravery on social media we started to gaze around us? Find our inspiration in the mundane?

We would look and see that we have bravery right under our eyes. We could allow it into our lives right now.

And we can make the bold step from eternal worriers to warriors.

What does your inner Tiger dream of doing? What tiny steps can you take in that direction starting today? 

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