throw
3mo ago
Well I'm fucked.
I developed schizophrenia with a sudden onset and lost my partner, work, and health. Wife was first to leave me and has cut all contact. Lost my job and most of my ability to work. Most of my friends have drifted away.
Could be worse. I did some crazy shit due to my delusions but managed to avoid even worse consequences. I now have meds that have fixed the so called positive symptoms like delusions and hallucinations. I have a lot of money saved up. I think my cognitive abilities are slowly coming back. But I have intense negative symptoms: a lack of emotions, motivation, and joy. These are probably due to both the illness and my high fall from grace. My life now is almost entirely suffering.
One friend has been coming over to my place with her dog once a week to bake. I'm infinitely grateful for this and it's one of the only things I look forward to. I told most friends about my situation but she's the only one who has made any effort to try and support me.
I feel almost entirely lost and ruined, but do have some stubborn hope and desire to try and rebuild my life. I've been forcing myself to try new hobbies but they have all felt empty so far. Have zero motivation to exercise (and am gaining weight due to the meds). Don't have enough concentration to read books or watch movies. Hard times.
Cats are independent douchebags that demand your care while giving somewhat random attention if any in return. They are barely cooperative, difficult to train, and aloof in nature. Cats will drop and break your stuff for fun without any regret.
Dogs are easily trained companions that follow your commands and give you almost unconditional affection and protection in some cases. They react well to order, and their behavior is mostly predictable even if they can be goofballs.
There is a parallel to stereotypical gendered differences in romantic preferences. Lack of cooperation and aloofness are not usually considered attractive traits in women by men. And while most women do value things like commitment and security (and plenty own dogs), it's a well known trope that women do easily develop an attraction towards "assholes" — independent, aloof, and selectively attentive men. Though not particularly applauded, it's perhaps more acceptable for a woman to date someone independent and aloof than it is for a man. And similarly an appreciation for cats is more acceptable for the feminine than the masculine. A cat is someone you submit to, while a dog is more of a companion or underling.
That said, apparently men are more likely to own cats than women in the US, so these stereotypes might not paint a particularly accurate picture even if they explain why cats are more femininely coded. My hypothesis is that surprisingly many men will find cat-like traits attractive in the same way some women do. The aloof and independent manic pixie girl perhaps being one more acceptable example of this.
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