A Life Changing Rabbit

My name is Chilli

Throughout my life, I've been teased & tormented for being a little different:
I've never been clever, I'm a natural red-head, covered from head to toe in freckles, & generally been a little on the chubby side. I have large front teeth & have always struggled with my physical & mental health.

From an early age, I tried to not let bullies get the better of me but I've a very sensitive soul.
However, my parents always had my back. As an only child, I was always very closed to both my Mum & my Dad. But with I was 15 years old, disaster - my Dad was diagnosed with Cancer & just a month later, he died...a week before Christmas 1999.

I've had many bouts of depression.
I've tried to commit suicide twice, being diagnosed as being a manic depressive, have hyperventilation syndrome, & a whole host of mental issues that no one could truly understand.
I was finally diagnosed with 'Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder'.

I had extremely low self esteem & self worth, & would spend weeks locked inside. I wouldn't leave the house for months; hated talking to people, & feared that I would get ill if I went outside.
My life was spent in my mind, pretending to be someone else on a daily basis.

Then my support worker suggested a pet as I adore animals. I couldn't get a dog or a cat as I currently live in a first floor flat, but a house bunny? I could live with that...so along came this little fluffy lop-eared rabbit, whom I named Pancake (after Oolong - the meme of a rabbit with a pancake on its head).

I still didn't leave the house for a while, spending most of my time in my pajamas as Pancake & I got to know each other, but I started to come out of my shell as the two of us would watch TV & films together.

Pancake has an amazing personality & character. She's incredibly curious & has me laughing at her antics (here, she is chewing on the ribbon she pulled off my slippers). I started taking her outside with a harness so that she could skip around the front garden. I found myself happily talking to people about her.

I soon started taking her out & about with me. She helped me leave the house & I was no longer concerned about what other people thought of me - all they wanted to know about was Pancake. We would get stopped many times during the day by strangers & passersby...& I was fine with that.

We play games together & cuddled up together & watch TV together. She has changed my life in just the year & a half that I've had her. I'm more confident when I have her around with me, I'm happier to leave the house, & she's the main reason I get out of bed in the morning.

I'm now training her to be a therapy rabbit so we can visit people in hospitals & therapy centers. I have more pride in my appearance & even had the wedding of my dreams as I finally had the confidence to be me - to be the person I am, with the help of my husband.

So this is just to say that it's not always cats & dogs who change peoples lives - there aren't enough rabbits on here so I'm sharing my story.
In the immortal words of Stitch, "This is my family. I found it, all on my own. Is little, & broken, but still good"