Pet Photography & Mental Illness

If you ever read my bio, yes, I'm a depressed person, but there's one thing in my life that makes me happy; it's pet photography! I have three guinea pigs and a cat that I absolutely love with all my heart. I love them so much I take pictures of them, it’s a hobby that one day I want to turn into my dream job. I also live with my sister where I take pictures of her dogs too.

Pet photography helps me because I have depression and animals make me and other people happy. I mean, studies show animals help with anxiety which I also have. Because of my anxiety and getting mistreated by a lot of people, I don't really want to work with people in the future. Right now, I'm working with people at a sub shop, but hopefully that's temporary and I make this my job! It’s going to be hard and take a lot of money but all I can do right now is wait and save my money. The place I work at now my family owns it, so it has its perks, like working there helps with my social skills which I will need in the future. Well, we all need social skills to do anything in life.

I don't even know when my love for photography came to be. I just remember taking pictures with my phone of my pets and my aunt said I should make an Instagram page for them. Thus, came The_Fluffy_Herd, that's the name of my page if you want to check it out. I have people in my life that really like my pictures too, they say they look forward to seeing the pictures I come up with next. Sometimes I think about giving up on my dream, but I know that's just my depression talking not me. I have faith that one day I’ll make my dream a reality and have my own pet studio. But I know that day isn't close so I'm fine with my job now.

When I take pictures its usually the happiest part of my day and I think it’s healthy for anyone going through a mental disorder. There's other healthy ways to but this works pretty good for me. Other healthy ways I use are running and writing stories. I don't think watching Netflix, eating, and sleeping are the best ways for anyone. I used to be that way and it made me feel worse and worse everyday. If I was you, dealing with a mental illness and you don't like my ways of healthy coping, then I would research it. Researching mental illnesses will help you find better ways to control yourself and go throughout your day without a breakdown. And trust me, I had my moments of breakdowns, one of them my family took me to a mental hospital which was awful and good at the same time. I knew I needed it but I missed my pets like crazy! I couldn't wait till I got out just to hug my pets again. I was only in there for five days but it felt like forever, but I did make some pretty cool friends and it was nice to talk to people who understood me.

I recommend anyone who has a mental illness to get a pet, pets help a lot with mental illnesses! That's why people have service dogs...sometimes all you need is a pet by your side to make your day. I feel like pets are the only medication you need sometimes, well and a camera in my case. Between my actual job and pet photography, it keeps my schedule pretty full which is good. I think that's the other medication, to keep yourself occupied by other things and you will think less of your disorder. You will think more about it if you’re watching TV, eating like I used to do all the time. Well good luck to anyone out there fighting a mental illness and look up my page on Instagram, The_Fluffy_Herd.