S3, Ep 2 Dial Emma: Grieving a Pet - what our animals can teach us about ourselves
Friendship Therapy
Emma Reed Turrell
4.8 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 22 November 2024
⏱️ 9 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week, Emma hears from a listener who is navigating the loss of a beloved companion and friend: her cat, Minnie. In her voicenote, this caller describes how she has struggled to do life without Minnie and is now considering getting a new cat, but continues to grapple with feelings of guilt at the prospect of moving on while still grieving for her furry friend.
In this episode, Emma explores the unique experience of loving and grieving a pet, and shares how the long-lasting, consistent bonds that we build with our animals allow us to access and nurture the parts of ourselves that we often ignore.
What advice would you give this listener?
If you have a dilemma for Emma, drop us a voicenote on Instagram @friendshiptherapypod.
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Friendship Therapy is hosted by Emma Reed Turrell, produced by Chris Sharp and Lauren Brook.
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Social media:
Emma Reed Turrell @emmareedturrell
Friendship Therapy @friendshiptherapypod
Email: [email protected]
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I've never thought of myself as the giving time. |
| 0:03.0 | But I guess I am. |
| 0:05.0 | I cook my housemate an extra delicious pot of stew after a long night shift. |
| 0:10.0 | And I give blood when I can. |
| 0:12.0 | Invest in one hour of my time can save up to free lives. |
| 0:16.0 | Like the life of my little cousin, Jace, who suffers from sick or so. But you wouldn't know that |
| 0:22.1 | about how cheeky is. If you're the given type in London, please book an appointment at blood.colle. |
| 0:28.9 | com. Welcome to this episode of Dial Emma from Friendship Therapy, the part of the show where you get to, |
| 0:36.9 | well, dial Emma with your |
| 0:38.3 | dilemma. Yeah, you see what I did there. You share your friendship concerns and I share my reflections |
| 0:43.8 | as a therapist to give you the tips and tools you need to build better bonds. Okay, enough from me. Over to you. |
| 1:00.6 | Hi, Emma. Earlier in the year, I lost my cat, Minnie, who I'd had with me for 17 years. I often referred to her as my best friend. She was with me throughout all of my teenage |
| 1:06.0 | years. And it's been really, really difficult navigating that grief, particularly as a lot of people don't necessarily see companionship with a pet as a friendship in a way. |
| 1:16.6 | But it's been really challenging doing life without her. |
| 1:19.6 | I am looking at getting a new cat soon and that's been a real challenge for me, just kind of trying to manage those feelings of guilt and filling the need to move on but balancing that with obviously the grief that I'm feeling |
| 1:32.8 | so any advice you've got for that would be really helpful thank you first of all can I just say |
| 1:42.5 | I am so sorry that Minnie died. I know that grief really well, |
| 1:50.8 | and it took me a really long time to understand it. And if it's okay, I'll share a little bit of |
| 1:59.5 | what I figured out. |
| 2:07.8 | The way I see it, we have two relationships with our animals. |
| 2:15.4 | One is that relationship of companions and it's a really unusual relationship. |
| 2:20.6 | I think it's one of our longest lasting, consistent, |
... |
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