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Life Lessons from the Dog

This past week taught me a lot about myself. I think it was Wednesday I went over to my friend's house so we could work on our artistic projects together and provide each other company and feedback. Dice is her Pit bull mix who has a BIG personality. He's really emotional and super loving, especially towards his human "mom and dad". When I arrived the other day, we immediately took him out in the yard to romp and potty. While he let his energy out, he picked up this huge stick about the width of a baseball bat and 150% the length of a bat. He started parading this whopper around swinging it dangerously close to our shins. While he was being totally adorable and showing off his prize with a warm heart, he was making us back away so he wouldn't make any undesirable contact with our shins or any other parts of our bodies. While we were laughing uncontrollably, I kept teasing him and telling him, "Look out! I know you're having fun, but this is a serious matter"! I realized yesterday, I need to take my own advice.

This weekend I realized my personality can be a lot like Dice with that stick. I am an extremely animated person and often exude my emotions through my actions and facial expressions, especially when I am around people that excite me. When I am feeling confident I grow bold. For some people it can be a little too much and they back away needing personal space to adjust, if at all, to my intensity. I enjoy being bold and sharing my experience with others. This week I was made aware that I was wielding my emotions just like Dice wields a big stick. As an artist, I am repeatedly pushing my self reflection for the purpose of propelling my artistic vision and awareness of how I affect the world and vice versa. This practice has become habitual and by applying it to my personal life, I am able to gain a better understanding of my personal and professional relationships. I need to introduce my boldness more carefully in new relationships with appropriate consideration for others' personal boundaries so that I may improve upon building more rewarding experiences with people I wish to surround myself. Going forward, I want to be more thoughtful of my impact on others and be intentional with my self expression so that I won't scare people off before I get the chance to have any relationship with them at all.

Thank you, silly dog, for a little perspective!


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