I got a cat and feel more confident in myself

i have a dog who thinks he's a cat, lol, and he is just amazing. my self-esteem has always been pretty good so adopting him might not have affected me as much as adopting your cat has for you, but i definitely agree with nightangel about the unconditional love thing. your pets love you no matter what and they don't judge like other humans do. whenever you feel like a "failure" that is just the human part of your brain talking so you need to indulge the animal part by being around animals. i generally don't feel like that but i do get anxious (again, too much human brain) and just hanging out with my dog is the best remedy for that :) enjoy her!