When we evacuated during the Waldo Canyon Fire last year, we packed up a lot of stuff, including shoving poor Cosmo Cat into his carrier!

Homeless for a short while, we gratefully moved into Terry and Laurie’s house. Life was extremely disruptive, stressful, and full of concern for friends, neighbors, firefighters, and other first responders — as well as for the foothills, peppered with wildlife and favorite trails.

Mike and I, and even our dog Jake, adapted to the situation fairly quickly.

But not Cosmo Cat.

He yowled. He wouldn’t eat or drink. He crawled under a bed and wouldn’t come out.

For more than a week, we were in transition: packing stuff, evacuating, settling in with T&L, moving back home, unpacking some stuff, yet staying alert — sleeping with one eye open. Throughout the ordeal, we tried to be resilient.

But not Cosmo Cat.

That’s when I concluded: Cats don’t roll with the punches!

This year, I’ve been expanding my comfort zone. (Put another way, I’m finding opportunities to “stretch and stress”!) As small business owners, we must expand our comfort zone every time we encounter an opportunity, setback, or surprise change in direction.

Unlike Cosmo Cat, let’s embrace change. Let’s roll with the punches!