Member-only story
I Miss My Bestie — But I’m Not Going to Stop Ignoring Her
Sometimes, you need to say goodbye to people you love
Slightly panicked and brimming with impatience, I walked into the waiting room. The assistant had already told me there was only one person waiting, and after the vet had helped her, he would have a couple of minutes to talk to me.
Vet waiting rooms always make me tense. And every pet I’ve had picked up on that tension, also becoming tense themselves. And the harder I tried to be a calm leader for my furry friends, the more I scolded myself for failing.
Even though I didn’t have my hyperactive Doberman with me, I was still tense, and when I opened the door, I hoped the other person wasn’t a chatty one.
I’m not good at small talk, and it’s extra draining when my anxiety is terrorizing my entire demeanor. But I’m also a doormat and a people pleaser, so whenever a chatty person starts talking about their pet or asking about mine, I don’t know how to shut them down, and I chat along, profusely sweating and feeling guilty for making my pets’ stress worse.
So yeah, before I had even opened the door, I was already a nervous wreck, hoping to avoid any form of interaction with any person or pet until I could talk to the vet about changing the meds for my Dobermann…
