Lesson Two of my book journey. Never Give Up!
Those of you that know me were likely as surprised as me when I decided to jump into this whole dog show thing. But how could I not, this wonderful, sweet, stubborn perfect boy, Stella del Nord Tolstoy’s Greatest Work, much better known as Leo, came into our lives and to honor the lineage he represents entering the show ring was a given. He and his wonderful sister have instilled such a love and passion for this incredible breed that it inspires us to want to give back in whatever way is asked of us. The show ring came second to hunt testing, which before Leo’s sister/aunt Tessie entered our life neither Tom nor I had ever considered. Throughout both the show ring and the hunt testing we have failed and got back up several times.
What does all of this have to do with “Never Give Up”? There are a couple lessons in here for me…. This weekend being a prime example of one of the lessons. I have been working with Leo and he has improved by leaps and bounds regarding what is expected of him in the ring. We are slowly getting into our groove and repairing some mistakes made early on. I am currently at a dog show, actually three spread over the weekend, with Leo. Yesterday was an absolute train wreck, after all the work we have done and progress we have made, I walked out of the Expo Center 100% ready to give up. I felt embarrassed and humiliated, and couldn’t figure out for the life of me what went wrong.
This morning, rather than give up we got up, dressed up and showed up. We did it all again. From the outside it would seem a repeat of yesterday. Same routine. Same process. The big difference today, Leo did well. For the most part he did what he was supposed to do (we still have a struggle behaving when behind a girl in the breed ring, but even that is improving). By not giving up and running home with our tails between our legs Leo and I can walk into the next ring with a little more confidence and a lot more calm. I won’t be running home carrying the baggage of the past, I can move forward into the future.
The other lesson is a little tougher… as I was writing the initial paragraphs and thinking abut how I can’t think of a single instance where I didn’t give up on our dogs. Case and point, hunt testing Tessie a week before the deadline knowing she wasn’t ready. No, it wasn’t a miraculous awesome test, but I didn’t give up. We went out on a miserably hot rainy day and we did our thing! We fulfilled our obligation to train and test her.
I realized this morning there is a trend I tend to follow. If I am working towards an outcome in which someone else is depending on me, be it my dogs, friends, family or work, I am really good at the Never Give Up. However, when it comes to my personal goals I let them fall to the wayside at fairly insignificant hurdles.
Hindsight being 20/20 this seems very counter intuitive. I have embraced the philosophy I can’t help others until I first help myself for many years. However, I don’t seem to really be taking that to heart. Something to consider a bit more in the future. What will it take to follow through on and achieve my own personal goals? I started a legacy map last year. I think I need to dust that project off and get back at it. Not only complete it, but print it and keep it in sight. A life with living is a life worth living right.
