May 31 2012

Every weekday morning Bauer and I do an out and back 3-4 mile run around our neighborhood. Bauer LOVES his runs. He pouts if I don’t take him out within 5 minutes of waking up and he never wants the run to end.

When we get to the part of our run where it’s time to head back home, he either stops dead in his tracks and refuses to move, or throws his body to the ground and pouts. Every time. He’ll finally move forward if I lure him with treats or pretend I’m going to pick him up (he doesn’t seem to realize that there is no way I could lift his 65+ pound body). The entire second half of the walk is a struggle as he pouts about the impending end of his run and I tug him along growling, “You’re not pulling this shit today…”

His shenanigans really got me thinking this morning. Rather than enjoying the whole run, he wastes half of it pouting about not getting to stay out longer. It’s kind of sad really, I thought to myself. Then, something big occurred to me: I’m guilty of doing the same thing. I think we all are.

I spend way too much time pouting about what I don’t have instead of focusing on and appreciating the things I do have. I need to make an effort to live in the moment and enjoy what’s right in front of me instead of moping about the have-nots and panicking about things in the future I can’t control. I realize this is not the most ingenious concept, but sometimes we just need a little wake up call and Bauer was mine this morning.

So, as a reminder to myself, tomorrow morning I will change the “You” to “We”:

“We’re not pulling this shit today…”