3042: Don't Let Your Life Go to the Dogs by Helene Massicotte of Free To Pursue on Motivation & A Simple Life

[00:00:00] This is Optimal Living Daily Episode 3042. Dont Let Your Life Go to the Dogs by Helene Massicotte of FreeToPursue.com I'm your narrator Justin Malik, reading you blogs every single day of the year, including holidays. Without further ado, lets get right to it as we optimize your life.

[00:00:22] Dont Let Your Life Go to the Dogs by Helene Massicotte of FreeToPursue.com We've been to a busy household this past week, busy tending to a new visitor, that is. Meet Charlie, our new puppy.

[00:00:37] Charlie is a one year old plot-hound mix, he comes to us from a local rescue, the same one who gave us our wonderful bell. Why did we take Charlie? Because we have the time and the resources to be his fosters and help him readjust

[00:00:50] a home life after a really tough start in life. And Charlie needs a lot of this TLC if he's to be deemed adoptable again. The FTP household is pretty much the last chance at rehabilitation for this scared, confused little guy.

[00:01:05] As we've been working with Charlie and watching and reading a lot of Cesar Milan's training materials, we've noticed that his progress is very much like many of us as we get used to a new environment, people, and behaviors, and that his success at any task is determined

[00:01:21] by how he chooses to approach it. Will he trust the situation? Or fear it? I'll admit that after day two and two near sleepless nights, we were left wondering whether we would be able to handle Charlie.

[00:01:35] He seemed so far gone and his decision to bite Mr. FTP's behind on the morning after his first night was definitely not helping his situation. We finally decided during an unexpected conversation at 3am to double down and see what happened.

[00:01:51] His progress during the rest of the week has been nothing less than remarkable once we decided to set boundaries and create the order required to provide a safe environment we could understand and navigate. And according to the rescue, the result has been miraculous.

[00:02:07] His turnaround was that quick because of one fundamental reason. We were able to have Charlie come to learn from a place of curiosity and a willingness to be part of the team as opposed to one of fear and anxiety. Are people really any different?

[00:02:24] His progress over just a few days was so amazing it got me thinking. We're really not all that different when we come from a place of fear as opposed to one of confidence, calmness and interest.

[00:02:35] We only behave in erratic ways when we are trying to protect ourselves from unknown outside forces from whatever it is that might hurt us in some way. And the greater our fear and anxiety around what might not go well, the more likely

[00:02:48] we are to imagine disastrous outcomes which leads us to behave in weird, emotional and erratic ways. It's almost as though fear makes it inevitable that what we fear most will happen. That date with that cute person we met will be a disaster.

[00:03:04] This marriage thing is hard so we're doomed to fail. We'll blow our chances at that new dream job. We'll never lose those extra pounds. We'll fail that final examination and we won't get our degree. We'll lose our case in small claims court.

[00:03:19] We won't successfully return a product for a full refund. We won't score the goal for our team. We don't achieve the ambitious goal we set. We won't be successful at this saving and investing thing let alone have enough to retire. We won't be able to successfully change careers.

[00:03:35] We can't be trusted with a difficult foster puppy. Before Charlie could learn to be the happy puppy he's turning out to be, he needed to believe that he was safe and that he could competently navigate the dynamics of our household. We helped him do that.

[00:03:51] And we can do that for ourselves too. How we approach our own learning and adapting can have a huge impact on our happiness both in the short and longer term. It's up to us to decide how we're going to approach a new and or potentially difficult situation.

[00:04:06] And we have the advantage here. Unlike dogs, we can ask for or create what we need to be successful. We can ask questions, research alternatives, seek support, along with a myriad of other actions we can take to improve our chances of success, including creating a positive mindset.

[00:04:23] The choice is ours. Will we come at it from a place of inevitable disaster? Or will we go with the flow and see what happens? Will we ask for support and assistance?

[00:04:33] Or will we try to wade through the unknown because we feel we're not worthy of the help? Our potential for success or failure is virtually predetermined by us. You just listened to the post titled, Don't Let Your Life Go To The Dogs by Alan Massicott at free-to-pursue.com

[00:04:56] and I'll be right back with my commentary. Thank you to Alan. I think this article is even more relevant these days. It just seems like so much of the world's actions are decided by fear and anxiety, instead of confidence or just love, I guess.

[00:05:15] I don't know, maybe that's just me getting older and remembering the good old days, which actually might not have been the good old days. I'm not sure. Anyway, I don't think we can argue with what Alan was talking about in this post.

[00:05:28] All these things can be framed in different ways, and it's up to us to choose how we want to frame it. Easier said than done possibly, but really important to think about. And like she said, we have an advantage, the ability to communicate clearly,

[00:05:44] so we can get help if we need it. We often act brave and don't want to be vulnerable and get that help. I get it. It's not an easy thing to do, but that's what makes us human. And not using our abilities to our advantage?

[00:05:58] Man, it's a bit sad. We can do better. I know I can. So thank you to Alan for this one. I really appreciate you being here and listening along with me every day, including the weekends. Have a great rest of your day and I'll catch you tomorrow.

[00:06:14] Where your optimal life awaits.