If you ask a college student what their main complaint about school is, I think most would respond with how stressful it is. As a full-time student, school is my job. It's a job that requires a lot of work, inside and outside the classroom. Most classes require at least an hour or more of studying every night in order to excel. Couple the workload with worries about your GPA and social life, classes can become overwhelming. I recently discovered a wonderful solution to deal with my stress levels: playing with puppies!
Most animal shelters and pet stores allow visitors to take the dogs and puppies out of their cages and play with them for as long as they like. Here's the story of the first time I ever played with a puppy for stress relief.
As I got out of the car and started walking toward the door of Petland, I could already feel myself smiling. When I finally got inside the door, I was amazed at how much my mood was brightened just by walking in. I felt happy already and I hadn't even seen any puppies yet! My friend and I walked to the wall and there he was. He was a beautiful, young Bernese Mountain Dog with brown and white paws.
He was playing with the food bowl in his cage and honestly looked like he was having so much fun, so we walked up to his cage and knelt down to watch him. As I was kneeling down and watching the young puppy at play, I felt like a kid in a candy store. I can not remember ever feeling so happy just to watch a puppy playing by himself. I sat and watched him for nearly 10 minutes until an employee asked us if we would like to pet and play with him.
My heart skipped a beat. I nodded and said yes, trying to contain my joy. We were directed into a small cubicle and told to wait for someone to bring him for us. The anticipation was building. We were going to be able to pet him so soon! The door opened and he came jumping inside and we began to pet him. My heart soared and I was filled with joy.
I dubbed the little puppy Simon. His tail was wagging and he looked so happy to be out of his cage and playing with us. I was so overwhelmingly happy that even when he chewed on my shoes and jeans, I didn't care. We got to play to play with him for about 25 minutes, but it only felt like we were there for five.
Simon and Me
When it came time to say goodbye, my heart felt light; he really made me forget all about my stress. So when anyone is stressed out and needs to have their spirits lifted, I recommended to go play with puppies. Even if you don't leave completely cured of your stress, at least you got to play with a cute puppy!
