What My Cats Teach Me About Trying Again

What My Cats Teach Me About Trying Again

Every day, my cats remind me that it’s okay to fail, okay to wobble, okay to miscalculate a jump… as long as you try again.

I watch them do it all the time.

Earl stretches his paws, lines up his little body like a professional athlete, locks his eyes on his target point…
and sometimes?
He misses.

Chamie gears up for a heroic leap, wiggles his butt, commits with full confidence…
and lands somewhere totally different.

But what amazes me isn’t the fall.
It’s their reaction.

There is no shame.
No embarrassment.
No collapse into “I’m useless,” or “I shouldn’t try again.”
No replaying the moment over and over in their head.

They simply get up.
Shake their fur.
Look around like nothing happened.
And try again with the same fearless heart.

Even experts fail — even cats who can jump five times their height.
What makes them experts is not perfection.
What makes them experts is trust:
in their bodies, in their instincts, and in the moment.

And it makes me think about my own life.

About the days I feel like a failure.
About the projects I start and restart.
About the fear of not being “good enough.”
About the moments I miscalculate things in my business, my healing, my creativity, my life.

But then I look at my boys — my little teachers — and I remember:

If they can rise gently after falling,
then I can rise gently after trying.

If they can give themselves another chance,
then so can I.

And maybe that’s why animals are such pure souls.
They don’t carry shame the way we do.
They don’t judge themselves for mistakes.
They don’t believe failure makes them unworthy.

They simply exist, learn, adjust, and move with love.

Every day, Earl and Chamomile inspire me to do my best —
not because I have to be perfect,
but because trying again is a soft kind of bravery.

And that’s enough.

If my cats trust themselves after every fall,
maybe I can trust myself too.