Accommodating Mr Spooks

I’ve had cats for most of my life. I’m not saying my retirement plan is to be a crazy cat lady in a big hat and a purple dress - but I’m not ruling it out.

My current feline companion, Mr Spooks, sleeps on my bed. He doesn’t sleep under the doona but curls into my body around my feet or in the crook of my arm and snuggles close all night. He has his own blankie that I put over him in the cooler months.

I hear from many of my cat-owning—and pet-owning—friends that they find they have to make some accommodations for the cat overnight. These involve not moving the cat but adjusting your sleeping position “because I don’t want to disturb him.”

While this makes no logical sense, there is no changing our ways. My head can be on the pillow, and my feet are at the end of the bed. Still, it looks like I am doing an extreme version of the banana pose as I bend around this furry, occasionally spiky lump of flesh lying horizontally across the mattress. And I don’t quite have enough doona to cover me because he is lying on it. If I need to get up during the night, I must contort my legs to get them out from under the covers so I don’t move him. Occasionally, I get stuck, and it is pretty amusing.

I sometimes wonder if we are quite as accommodating with people. Could we be a little more bendy working with people in our team? Can we help them feel more comfortable even if it is a little less so for us?

Like people, cats are social creatures. Once they are born, kittens sleep in a big kitty pile with their brothers, sisters, and mum until we take them into our homes for companionship. Snuggling at night for warmth and companionship is in their nature.

Our social nature wants each and every one of us to fit in. And just as there are times when we need to shift that cat off the bed, we need to stand up to our colleagues. But could we allow a little more latitude—even if our legs get a bit stuck and our backs a little chilled because they are doona-less—at least for a little while and build that trust and connection that helps us work better and enjoy our time in the workplace?