Fundraising refresh, new ideas for hard times

We all come to animal welfare with life experiences that maybe aren't the greatest and this is not necessarily earned or our own fault. We fall victim to the consequences of other people’s decisions or lack thereof. So, we tend to arrive in the world of animal welfare, where things are never going to be perfect, as equally imperfect beings. We save the animals, but can we rescue ourselves?

Just like any vocation or calling, our work in animal welfare can feel like an endless cycle of doing the same thing over and over and we become numb to the changes we are actually creating. How can we stop our feeling of an endless spin cycle?

We may be particularly good at putting out fires in our work in animal welfare but the personal reward and its effect on our minds and bodies is definitely felt a little differently than when we are able to take that same energy and do something proactively and do it well. There is definitely an emotional and mental imbalance when we do not believe we are serving both sides. So our day can begin with anxiety and can end with even more anxiety and worry piled on. Can we go on like this forever?

Deciding to leave a vocation which involves animals is not an easy 180. We speak for them, advocate for them, and as it is said so many times, we are their voice. We love on them, tend the needs to make them warm and clean, and in return get loving looks, wags and purrs, and see scared or shy ones start to bloom into who they are. How can you make a choice that will keep your mind and body in happy harmony?

If you think of yourself as a company, what would you be in business for and who influences and drives your success? How great would it be to be the CEO of YOU?

There are the days you already lost sleep over, you counted down to like a death march, and wish you could skip to 6 o’clock that night and not have to deal with at all. Days when you have a scheduled situation that fills you with anticipation and anxiety, scary days with feelings of fear of what may happen or sadness for what you know is going to happen. But we can mentally prepare ourselves a bit beforehand to help us digest what is going through our heads and hearts.

Being a “fixer” is something we are. Being a problem solver may be so automatic to you that you have never thought about it that way. Animal folk tend to have that extra “special sauce” that makes them add what is needed to make things happen.

I had come to rescue wide eyed and pretty darn naïve. As I settled in over those new weeks and months, I saw volunteering as my escape from the real world of office phones, difficult people, computers, family madness, self-criticism, and the politics of everyday life. And then….

Going back to your car after your shift, how do you feel? You may be a bit smellier (the wonderful perfume of shelter love!) while you mentally juggle how the shift went, along with all the things you may need to do now, family, errands and getting home to your own pack. But sometimes there is a sadness or numb feeling. What happened to your smile and can you get it back?