What place in the world do you never want to visit? Why?
When I was younger there were a list of places I didn’t want to visit. A very long list. One of them was Africa, it just seemed too different and dangerous. As I have gotten older, I have met people who have traveled to Africa and talked about the experience. While it isn’t at the top of my travel list, it’s on the list.
The Middle East is still on my not to visit list, for the same reasons, it feels too different and dangerous.
As with other things in life the answer may be different in time.
What Olympic sports do you enjoy watching the most?
My favorite is the horse events. Not always the easiest to find when they are on and I often find I’m setting my alarm for 3 am to watch my favorites. Sadly more often than not I manage to fall asleep again before the event is done.
How often do you say “no” to things that would interfere with your goals?
I say no daily. Some days it’s an all day long focus. I own a small business, I have goals for growing the business and personal goals in my life that are constantly evolving as I learn what I can accomplish.
I grew up in a family where the main goal in life was to be employed and retire from a company so you didn’t have to go work anymore.
I say no to believing I should always be in the background and not heard. I say no to not setting boundaries. I say no to living a small life where I don’t make a difference.
It’s a daily struggle to say no and get out in the world and be visible in the doing. I manage it, some days better than others, everyday I say no to letting fear hold me back.
What’s a secret skill or ability you have or wish you had?
If I did have a secret skill I probably wouldn’t post about it publicly. I do have a skill/hobby that most people are very surprised when the find out.
I’m a gamer, I’ve been a gamer most of my life. I’ve had times in my life where it became my escape and I spent more hours gaming than most anything else in my life.
Now my life is busy and fulfilling enough that it’s part of my whole. Sometimes I plan a gaming day/weekend but most of the time it’s an hour or so in an evening.
I love exploring the environments and questing. I’ve never been all that interested in PVP activities so I just wonder in my own worlds and enjoy things at my pace. As it should be, gaming is pure entertainment. An escape that allows me to have more balance in my life.
I love seeing all the new growth in spring. I love having some of the cooler days with things starting to warm up. I’m less a fan of rain if I have to be traveling in it. If I get to watch it from my yard, I enjoy watching it create mud and new plants. For specifics, I love lower 70’s lower humidity (as low as possible in Texas) and blue skies and white fluffy clouds. I find the storm clouds fascinating when we get storms and like watching the storms roll in with the cold fronts. All in all it’s all the facets of Spring. Did I mention I adore the longer days???
I find teachers are seasonal in my life and there hasn’t been one special one that stands out in my mind. For this season, Riddick is my teacher. He came into my life as an adult dog who had lived most of his life outside following his whims. No real expectations, no city experience. I had previously lost my heart dog and had planned on waiting for my grief lessen before getting another dog. Situations changed in his life and he joined my life about a month after the loss of my other dog. I was still feeling his loss and Riddick was dropped into an entirely different life.
Week one involved him seeing a toilet for the first time and figuring out it probably wouldn’t eat him. Every day was many, many new experiences for him. To say he was overwhelmed would be an understatement.
He also had to deal with my unrealistic expectations. Every day I felt the loss of not only the dog who had been with me daily for almost 5 years but a dog who had 5 years of training, he was easy. Needless to say the first few months didn’t go as well as they should have.
Riddick has taught me to be very flexible with my expectations. He insisted I be fair and clear with him. Once I was able to start meeting him on his terms, we started building trust. Months down the road and he has taught me patience (I only thought I was patient before) and to meet each dog where they are, even my personal dogs. The ones I have the most invested and have the highest expectations.
We are still very much in the beginning of our journey and we learn new things every day. But now I have a much better understanding of what he needs and giving him that means we both get to grow together. Mostly he taught me that I still need to be humble because there is still so much I need to learn.
I’ve been thinking about a new tattoo for a while. Almost a year ago, I lost my daily companion. As a professional trainer he was my demo dog. He traveled almost everywhere with me and was by my side helping build my business for almost 5 years. When he was about 5 month old he started having problems with movement. Over time it was discovered he had significant structural issues. I was told he would probably have a couple of years before the pain or instability would be too much. We were able to get almost 5 years.
For the tattoo, I’m planning on a dream catcher with his paw print in the middle. It’ll be high on my chest, next to my left shoulder, just where my heart dog should be. Still working on the dream catcher, haven’t found the right one yet.
The assignment for today is to identify my audience. It’s more along the line of “figure out the focus of you blog”. The suggestion is to pick someone and write the post to them. It’s a good thought, and I have a few hazy thoughts on who I could pick. This is my struggle.
I am a peacemaker for the most part and I hate conflict. I also spent quite a few years being trained by my employer to be a facilitator and to learn the skills to “flex my personality”. If anyone remembers those Age old personality tests I was a cross between intellectual and amiable. The company I worked for at that time spend upwards of five years and thousands of dollars to send me to dedicated communication courses at least twice a year.
What does all that really mean? They taught me to communicate. They also taught me (really well as it turns out) what to do to trigger people. They intended to teach how to identify the triggers and resolve the situation. I found out early on there are certain circumstances where I really don’t care if the issue is resolved and I will push the triggers harder. Why not, it’s not like I enjoy talking to those people anyway.
Back to my assignment. I struggle because I have vastly different communication styles depending on who is on the other end of the conversation. It’s not dishonest, it’s the difference between saying “I don’t agree with what you are doing.” versus “That’s a really bad idea because piranhas really like it when dinner sticks their hand in the tank like home delivery.”
I wonder if it’s cheating to write to the authentic me. The one who isn’t so busy trying to make sure she communicates with the best filter possible to match the other person but just communicates “If you are stupid enough to put your hand in that tank, I need to find a new friend because you have obviously lost what intelligence you had when we met.”
Maybe there are some other people out there looking for a truer self, and if they somehow manage to end up here, we can figure it out together.
My Slightly Twisted Life 