Taco Bell Day/Attitude

Thursday is our dog obedience class in a town an hour from us. Class is during our normal supper time, so we all eat a snack before class, then we indulge in Taco Bell after class. There is no Taco Bell in my small town, so it is a big treat to eat there.

We have two dog obedience classes left. I cannot wait for class to be done. From the very beginning, these classes were not a good fit. The first night I was confident, having fun and wham, the instructor gave me the "You have to make yourself the most important thing to your dog" spiel. Talk about pulling the wind from my sails. You had to be there, but she made me feel like garbage.

We are clicker trainers. Dog does a behavior we like, immediately click and treat. Everything they know is because we have trained them in this fashion. The class we go to? No clickers allowed, and no treats allowed. It just wasn't a good fit from the start.

We persisted because we forked out $300 total for the three of us to each take our dog through the class. That's a lot of money for us. Besides, the exposure to other dogs can't be replicated in real life. Plus, we need to set the example for our son that even though it isn't the best fit, we need to see it through.

Tonight class is going to stink. I did not practice the new command with Pip at all. I don't think my hubby or son did with their dogs, either. I just kind of gave up caring.

I have saved all the handouts, and figured we'd start fresh with clicker after classes are done.

That's really faulty thinking on my part. I preach "make it your own" about weight loss and getting healthy. I've been irritated from the get-go with these classes, yet I never bothered to make them my own. I didn't put in the effort that I should have. I just went along with it, went through the motions, and marked my time.

And that's what I did my whole life and why I got fat. That's why I lost my health. I just went along with life, went through the motions and marked my time. It got me in a bad way.

Life isn't perfect. When we're given lemons, make lemon water. lol (I don't like lemonade.) I need to learn to deal with imperfection. I need to overcome frustrations. I need to get my stinking thinking under control.

While I'm doing very well on the weight-loss/health front, I need to extend that attitude into all areas of life. I need an even keel on how I handle things. I think I would cope much better with life in general. I think when life throws me curve balls, it would help me handle them better.

What I should have done was to turn my attitude on--because I really can have attitude. Oh, yeah? Watch this. I should have practiced with Pip, using my clicker training at home, and practiced a lot. In the beginning, I did practice, but it lessened over time.

My bad. (I hate that phrase, my bad.)

The whole point of this post is that I need to find balance in everything. Consistency in attitude makes a huge difference. I need to do my best--make my best attempt at everything. Some things I'll be better at than others. That attitude stays with me for life, though. If I let negativity creep in in one area, it will seep into all areas.

Lesson learned.