A lesson on resilience from my dog

Recently I’ve got another important lesson from my dog – about resilience.
Two months ago, me and my dog Trouble relocated back home to Bucharest. I have relocated few times with Trouble, however this time is very special to me and the toughest one because of many reasons. First of all we had to leave the “always sunny island of Bahrain’, a place where we both loved to live, our home for 10 years. Trouble grew older and I have to make sure the relocation is done with as less stress possible for her. We moved from island life to the busy life of an European capital city, first time for Trouble in Bucharest. And so many other things to take into account…. Obviously, I started planning the relocation process many months ago and the comfort of my dog always come first. Like any other major change in my life she played an important role in my decision.
But this time I was over worried about many things due to her being now at a senior age and changing her routine may affect her wellbeing.
I was worried about how she will cope with another long haul travel by plane, getting used to a new city, new people, different weather, completely different place to live. On top of that I had to plan the renovation of my flat which by the time I’m writing this blog is almost done. That means it took more than 10 weeks.
This is an extremely stressful process for a human being and I have extrapolated those stress factors on my dog as well, how will she deal with all that…. ?
Contrary to my worries and beliefs, day by day Trouble proved me that I was completely wrong and had no need to be worried. She got used with her new environment smoothly and made me actually go through the whole process easily. She taught me many lesson during our life together, but this one is the biggest surprise I had from her. The reasons I was worried in my mind about how she will accommodate had no ground. Trouble displayed such a high level of resilience that made me admire even more how animals find the power to go with the flow of change and adapt in ways humans can’t envision without stress. Even now the workers are drilling and she is in deep sleep in a place she found herself comfortable and safe. She coped with the summer heat by finding the coolest and darkest place in the house which I never thought she even consider to relax there.
I was worried that she will be sad of missing her human and fury friends. I was wrong again, she made new ones and in about 6 weeks she started to have already her routine. I’m part of this routine as well which gives my life that sense of organization and discipline which I need during this turbulent accommodating period in my new home.
Things did not happened as I envisioned in my mind that will happen in the future. Instead of living every day as it comes – as Trouble did, I was worried about a future which I had no idea how will be.
While animals may be able to anticipate their future needs, they don’t worry about the future as fervently as humans do. People waste so much time obsessed with following “what will happen next” that we completely forget to enjoy now.
Resilience and living in the present – thank you Trouble for showing me the natural way to deal with it, deal with things as they come, in the present, not in the future…