Life | Confessions of A Cat Addict
by Brian Chua
“Hi, My name is Brian, I have 5 cats and I am a cat addict.”
12 years ago, I was 21 and a graphic designer in an advertising agency, clocking an average of 12 hours a day, my small rented apartment was just a place for me to sleep. Life was busy and miserable until I met him on Facebook.
He was a newborn, about 2 weeks old. I texted the person who put up the adoption post and we met up the day after. I immediately fell in love with his big eyes and tiny body. He is my first cat, Mojo.
For the next few days, in those my spare time that I could muster up, I began reading up all the “Tips for Beginner Cat Owners” I could find, brought him to the vet, spent a fortune on cat necessities, cleaned his shits, and constantly changed my blankets that he peed on. It was a game of hide-and-seek in the mornings with me taking about 20mins each time to find his new hiding place. Those days were hectic, but somehow I was happy and content.
Many years have passed, and our family of me and Mojo have grown to include 4 new feline members, (Sis) adopted from SPCA, (Hazel) from a random back alley, (Romeo) from a friend who needed to give away his cat, and (Seth) who literally followed me into the lift and back home. As I see them grow each day, I realised that I have also grown much into a different person because of them.
It is easy to forget to live your life when you are working hard to build your career, especially in the fast paced advertising industry. We always strive to do the best in our work and a lot of times we forget to slow down and breathe. In actual fact, having good planning with colleagues and clients, OT can be avoided. Being a responsible pet owner, has lead me to improve how I manage my time at work and I have learnt how to work more productively and efficiently.
Weekends used to be for dining out, chilling in cafes, and drinking with friends. Sometimes these social activities make me more exhausted than rested. Not to mention it burns a big hole in my wallet. After becoming a cats’ daddy, I have given myself more time to chill at home and accompany them. I also started to spend more time cleaning the house, cooking myself a meal, catching up with books and TV shows. I also put more effort into making my place more homey.
There is a saying, “Cats choose us; we do not own them.” Their existence teaches me to appreciate even the small things that happen in my daily life. Taking a step back and observing my surroundings helps me understand more about how the design I do is connected closely to our lives. All these make me wonder if cats are here (even with their obnoxious attitude) to secretly mentor us to be the better version of ourselves.
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