I nose you haven’t seen a pink nose as cute as this one all week! Am I right?!? Feeling grateful that we get to walk dogs in Aberdeen, NJ!

As a dog walker in Aberdeen, NJ, sometimes we have to deliver bad news. Sorry Eli, today is Monday.

Fortunately, bad news is often followed by good news. We are going for a walk!! And, like that, all is well in Eli, the chocolate lab’s world!!

Today is Day One of my business, my baby, Dog Days NJ being shut down indefinitely. As of this past Saturday March 21st at 9pm, Governor Murphy ordered all non-essential businesses to close their doors (or hang up their leashes, in our case), prompting people to stay home in an effort to flatten the curve and stop the spread of COVID-19. Now, more than ever, the world needs a PMA. 

I have spent nearly every day for the past 10 years outside, walking and hanging with all of my furry friends that make up the Dog Days NJ family. While it is difficult to imagine being shut down and not making a single dollar for the foreseeable future leaving me to wonder how my bills are going to get paid, it’s going to be more of a challenge to stay indoors and (even temporarily) lose the companionship of the animals that I feel fortunate to call my friends (though I will stay indoors as long as I am asked to, in order to be part of the solution).

All that said, this is not a time to feel sorry for myself. I am healthy and am at home with my family who I love more than anything (even more than I love Green Day- which is A LOT!!). There are people out there risking their lives to beat this virus- doctors, nurses, EMTs, social workers, police officers, firefighters…the list goes on. They are true heroes and I feel for them and their family members who wait for them to return home each day, hoping that they come home safe and healthy. 

On the Dog Days NJ Facebook and Instagram pages I talk a lot about PMA, which stands for Positive Mental Attitude (and when it comes to dog walking I like to say we’ve got a Pawsitive Mental Attitude). In lieu of our regular Dog of the Day posts, for the time being I’m going to be posting PMA of the Day photos. For social media purposes the post will consist of a daily picture of something that provides me with a Positive Mental Attitude; something that makes me happy, makes me grateful, and keeps me grounded. I will keep the captions (relatively) short, though please bear with me as brevity is not my strong suit. My hope is that many of you will comment often and share with the Dog Days NJ community something that gives you a PMA. Sharing your “virtual happy place” may help someone find theirs. I’ll tag each post with the hashtag #PMAoftheDay and I encourage you to post your own PMA of the Day pictures, making sure to use the hashtag so that we can see the things that make you happy. Many of us will have more time on our hands than we are used to so I thought doing something like this will not only be fun, but it will allow our minds to think of all the things in our lives that are positive rather than focusing on the negative.

In addition to the social media posts, I will also be posting longer explanations of my PMA of the Day posts on the Dog Days NJ Blog (The Dog Blog) but this is an exercise more for my own sanity / therapy than anything else. I don’t expect many to venture over there and read them other than my mom, who will read each and every one of my posts and then will more than likely call me, praising me for being the World’s Best Writer- because that’s what moms do.

This pandemic that we are in the middle of is a life changing event. Our world was a certain way before COVID-19 and it will be a different way when we come out of this (which we will). It is a bit unnerving to be in the midst of something like this- wondering what our world will look like on the other side- both the world at large and our own individual worlds. But we must remember that the goal of life is to survive. No one knows what we’re doing here. All we know is that we want to stay here and live as long as we can, hopefully managing to have some fun and perhaps find love along the way. So let’s focus on the fun things and the things that we love; the joy that life brings us. Let’s celebrate the little things that make us smile and that take us away and help us escape the darkness in the world. Let’s come together and be safe, strong, and positive.

It’s time to find our PMA. 

#PMAoftheDay