Reflection

The house was ordinary, nothing more than that. It had deep red walls, made out of strong and solid bricks. The roof was slightly slanted, and cloudy puffs of smoke regularly billowed out of the chimney. The day was not cold, nor hot, and a typical amount of clouds were in the blue sky. Inside the home, there was a bedroom, with a bed fit for a single person, and a bathroom connected. There was also a kitchen, with a simple fridge and dining table. In the next room over, a living space was situated. It contained a couch, a coffee table, and a television. However, the most important item to the owner inside the house was the little blanket that Lucy slept on. Lucy was a young dachshund, just over a year old. As she grew up with her owner all of her life, Lucy was scared whenever she was separated from her owner. They always went out on walks together, and even went shopping together. Lucy was happy with her owner, as she was invariably treated kindly and cared for. She was happy to remain in this arrangement for the rest of time.

However, her owner would often take the both of them out on vacations, usually once or twice a semester. Their visits were generally to locations near their home, always less than a two hour drive away. Lucy was satisfied with these trips, as she would still be able to recognize much of the landscape in those nearby cities. Furthermore, she would not be scared, as her owner was always there to protect her. One of Lucy's favourite vacation areas was at a small cottage that her owner rented. Unlike many other dachshunds, she loved to swim. At the cottage, Lucy would be able to swim freely in a pristine blue lake and relax beside it with her owner. Even if she was stressed, as this was an unordinary location for her to reside in, Lucy's owner would play audio files that relaxed her on speaker. These would calm her fearful thoughts, as long as she was with her owner. In this arrangement as well, she was happy to remain for the rest of time.

On a day that seemed ordinary, and normal at first, Lucy woke up, and ate her first meal of the day. She then went around the house, searching for her owner, as she wished to play a game. Eventually, Lucy found her owner in the bedroom, packing up belongings into a suitcase. Initially, she was confused, as she did not remember why her owner would do this, but Lucy soon recalled that today was the first day she would ever travel by plane. However, Lucy was prepared, and had practised remaining calm inside of a carrier. When it was time to board the airplane, she remained steady and did not bite or bark. Lucy's owner without fail kept her close throughout the flight, which helped in soothing her. The ride overall went smoothly, and the plane did not encounter much turbulence. Upon landing at their destination, Lucy's owner called a taxi, and the two made their way to an apartment. There, Lucy was finally let out to stretch her legs and run. She ran all about the apartment, but not outside, where Lucy would be away from her owner. Her owner began unpacking, and the room was soon set up for the two of them. They would spend two days there, before returning back home.

Later that day, Lucy and her owner went out for a walk in this new city. They went shopping at many different stores, all new and unique, each with a different smell that Lucy had never felt before. However, the crowd outside in the street was vast, and Lucy frantically attempted to remain near her owner. Despite her best efforts, they were quickly separated, and Lucy began to grow afraid and stressed. First of all, she desperately attempted to search for her owner. Lucy could barely see, as she was simply a small dachshund amidst a crowd of towering and dark individuals. Then, she began to despair, as Lucy had not gone for this long without her owner for many months. She quickly grew stressed, and tried to look up at the people flowing around her. All that Lucy could see was faces, moulding together in a swirl of colours, each indistinguishable from the other. She knew that she would never be able to find her owner in this state. Next, it felt as though the faces around were slowly closing in on her, completely obscuring her view, and any chances of finding her owner. Lucy could no longer see, she was completely surrounded by the crowd surrounding her.

In this frantic moment, one single thought eventually came to Lucy. She remembered an audio file her owner was listening to, where the voice spoke about accepting negative and stressful thoughts without judgement, and accepting the present as it is. Although Lucy was no longer in the presence of her owner, she attempted to achieve a state of relaxation by herself. In her current situation, Lucy was stressed and could barely think, but attempted to apply these memories to her state of being. She began to accept the negativity around her, and the present as it was. As Lucy calmed herself, she realised that the crowd around her wasn't as thick as she initially believed, and it was possible for her to navigate her way through it. She continued on through the crows, and eventually made her way to the outside. From there, Lucy climbed on top of a bench on the sidewalk, and soon she spied her owner, searching for her. Her owner caught sight of Lucy, and immediately ran over to her. At last, Lucy and her owner had been reunited. Although she still did not enjoy being separated from her owner, after this experience, Lucy was able to calm herself and push away stressful thoughts to the back of her mind for good.