suburban pup convenience (& wellness & longevity) exists because humans are busy & dogs are awesome, right?
And it rings true, because sooo many new clients say ‘oh I’d actually been meaning to try SP for ages!’
But a recent instapost from @mindspot_clinic got me thinking about what elements of our current, simpler lives we might maintain post-pandemic.
Because I’m one of those people who’s always busy. I’m never bored. And I would, honestly, never buy a jigsaw puzzle for something else to do. That’s just me. But that doesn’t mean I have my priorities right either…
Am I busy doing what really matters? Like making time for my 8 and nearly 9 year old pups, who realistically have only another decade with me? Ouch right.
…
Let me put this into some non-doggo context for a minute. During the past 6 weeks or so at home, I’ve cleaned and gardened like never before. And I aspire to maintain these activities post-pandemic. But I’ve realised I need to make some choices about what I’ll keep doing myself in-house - and what I choose to outsource, even if I haven’t got the budget already set aside to get someone else to do it.
Because, you see, I love gardening. As a taurean, my extremities belong in the earth, and my pups always find lots of important pup stuff to do in the garden with me. I WILL maintain this a few late afternoons a week. It will become a little part of my suburban busy-ness.
Meanwhile, no matter how much I love the result of cleaning, I resent the process. So while it’s something I’ve decided I will better maintain too – I’m choosing to set myself up for success by outsourcing it, just once a fortnight. That means reprioritising it financially, so I can prioritise the time it frees up with the things that matter. I will choose to be busy spending this usually-weekend time doing what Vin & Brucie wanna do instead.
…
What has this even got to do with dog food, I hear you ask?? Well – I realised all this is actually a set of decisions I made in relation to food some years ago, though perhaps less consciously.
I wanted to feed our fur boys fresh, human-grade food for wellness and longevity. But I didn’t revel in meal prepping (for pups or humans!) at the end of a busy artsworker day, so I sought the convenience of outsourcing it. To me, investing in truly good food and dedicated play time (not kitchen time) each night was totally worth it to assuage my working #dogmum guilt.
But in a much younger dog food market, I couldn’t find an existing channel to outsource it to. So eventually I brought it ‘in-house’. In a rather over the top way perhaps! Which meant quite drastically rebudgeting my time and finances. And prioritising food as an absolute first.
So at a much less dramatic level, I simply ask you – did you have time to prioritise freshening up your dog’s bowl during covid? And if so, do you hope to maintain this when life gets busy again? And IF SO…in the bright light of back-to-work, do you need to budget to outsource it, or are you really committed to making it work in-house?! We have ready-to-serve meals and make-your-own meal mixes that can support either choice. In short, we can help you be a better, more mindful kind of busy for your pups, whatever that looks like for you.
Food for restriction-easing thought perhaps? :)