Self-Care Sunday
A new occasional series on how to take care of yourself through turbulent times
(Graphic courtesy of Classroon Clipart.)
In my first Substack post of the new year, I mentioned the importance of taking time off to indulge in self-care. The fight against worldwide fascism will go on for a bit without you. Once you engage in a day or two of self-care, you'll feel energized enough to jump back into the fray.
I decided to elaborate more on that with a new occasional series called Self-Care Sunday. The purpose is to remind you to take occasional time off to focus on your mental health and well-being while putting up a tip or two on how you can achieve it without spending tons of money at a spa or indulging in “retail therapy” buying tons of those expensive trendy Stanley Cups.
The one bit of self-care that I recommend is watching animal videos online. That tip is one where you don't have to block off an entire day to do (although if you want to do nothing but binge-watch animal videos in a single day, then go for it). Watching animal videos will remind you that we humans aren't the only living beings on this planet. Many of these videos can be viewed for free and you don't need to have a subscription to Netflix or Amazon Prime to watch. The majority of these videos can be found on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram. If you don't know where to begin, here are a few that I recommend.
Don't Stop Meowing is about a couple and their three cats—Chase, Millie, and Skye. Those cats definitely have their own personalities, especially Chase, who seems to be the most human of the trio. Their human owners have recently had their first child together so the most recent episodes focuses on the cats having to adjust to having a new baby human brother. You can find Don't Stop Meowing on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.
A Guy and a Golden focuses on comedy skits featuring Jonathan and his golden retriever Teddy, who always seems to get the upper hand (or is it the upper paw?) in these wacky skits. Teddy also has this incredibly elaborate indoor doghouse that Jonathan built for him and it includes a flat-screen TV. One regular feature is Teddy Tuesday where Jonathan spends an entire Tuesday taking Teddy to various places like Starbucks, so Teddy can get a pup cup, and PetSmart, so Teddy can get a new toy. There's another feature where Jonathan takes a dog from the local animal shelter and takes that dog to the same places where he usually takes Teddy on Teddy Tuesday before returning that dog to the shelter. What's really cool is that many of the shelter dogs featured in that series would get adopted soon after their featured video is posted online. You can find A Guy and a Golden on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.
Hammy and Olivia features the wacky adventures of two “talking” corgis named Hammy and Olivia and their owners. They are sometimes joined by two cats who also live with them, Theodore and Eleanor. This series is currently in transition since the sudden death of Olivia just a few months ago. Right now Hammy and the cats are continuing as an animal trio making people laugh with their skits. You can find Hammy and Olivia on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.
Theodore and Eleanor is brought to you by the same people behind Hammy and Olivia. This series focuses on the cats who live with Hammy and the late Olivia. This channel focuses more on the cute and less on the comedy so if you don't have enough cuteness in your life, this is the channel for you. You can find Theodore and Eleanor on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.
Jimmy and Clarence is about the inner thoughts and opinions of Clarence, a black Labrador retriever who considers himself to be a king yet he feels very oppressed by the humans he lives with who just don't understand him. He feels so oppressed that he calls one of his human owners, Jimmy, Dadamir Putin and Jimmy's wife Kim Jong Mom. Sometimes Clarence will also do hilarious critiques of other animal video channels, such as the aforementioned A Guy and a Golden.
This series resonates with me the most on a personal level because when I was in high school my parents got a dog named Napoleon who was half Labrador retriever and half Chesapeake Bay retriever. (Napoleon was all black but his fur was longer and more wavy than Clarence's.) Napoleon acted just as entitled as Clarence does and Napoleon also thought that the whole world should revolve around him. Clarence makes the same indignant faces that Napoleon used to make, especially if Napoleon was grumpy because he didn't get his own way on something (such as wanting to eat an entire batch of chocolate chip cookies that my mother had just baked in the oven). If smartphones and YouTube had existed when I was in high school, I would’ve attempted something similar to Jimmy and Clarence. You can view Jimmy and Clarence on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.
And rounding out my list of animal videos is Patron the Dog, an animated Ukrainian series that is based on a real-life dog named Patron, who is a trained bomb-sniffing dog who is trained in detecting landmines that the Russians have planted since they began their invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The series also includes a cat named Mr. Tom, who is based on a real-life cat who lives with Patron. Each episode focuses on fictionalized versions of the real-life Patron's exploits. The episodes provide lessons to Ukrainian children on the dangers of wandering off into areas that have not been successfully de-mined along with other lessons on such things as being honest and kind. The series is in Ukrainian but English subtitles are provided. You can view Patron the Dog on YouTube.
I hope you enjoy my recommendations and they are enough to encourage you to seek out other animal videos.
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