When things do not effect you any longer, it’s time to throw in the towel. Starting out in rescue you see things you can not erase. It deeply affects you and really scars you. Flashbacks. Animals you have seen in the worst circumstances, conditions and wonder how they could have possibly survived. There are so many that didn’t survive, those memories are difficult. Ones found in garbage dumps. Tied to fences and shot. Frozen animals. Horrible situations that can not be unseen.

Many years may pass and perhaps you become numb to it all. You feel less shock, less emotion. You have given up on humanity. You feel there is no point in educating, no one seems to listen. You have reached a time in your rescue career when its time to step out or just need a much needed break.

I too have felt incredibly tired and just dragging my ass around. My problem was burnout. Exhausted. The stress of dealing with one animal situation after another and an other and an other and an other is mentally draining. The hours that has to be put in to take in five animals per day or more is like jumping through hoops to co-ordinate it all. Its crazy. From the calls to the time of intake, arranging space, determining the health of the animals, the set up, what is needed for each animal. Each animal has specific needs just like a person. Types of food, attention, space, cleaning, monitoring for illness, booking in Veterinary appointments. Papers to complete. Posting their stories. It’s an entire commitment to each and every animal that is taken into care.

If you don’t stop and see those animals, I mean really stop and look at them with compassion to think about what they are going through and what they must be feeling, How their lives are now changing in this very instant. We are now in the wrong line of work. If we can no longer spot fear, sorrow, sadness and feel compassion, it is time to step back and do something else.

I still feel very tired at times. It’s definitely a struggle at times. But to see a animal scared, hurt alone and nowhere to go still hurts my heart deeply and I start worrying about homeless animals every September as the seasons change and the temperatures become colder. I hate the thought of animals freezing as those flashbacks bring me back to when I first started. Animals still bring me to tears. May it be sadness or happiness. I guess we sometimes need to press the refresh button and keep plugging along. After all it’s those beautiful faces we are doing this for!