Hey guys. Have you ever been somewhere that you really felt you didn’t belong? That happened to me, uh, earlier today.

For a couple of reasons, we are trying to get Cor a rally title. Which, sounds awesome and amazing and fun, and I can’t wait for the time that getting in the ring is fun. But, we went to our first event, today, and it was stressful. It was. We got there and my equipment was wrong and, and just a lot of stuff, and it felt like it was all coming all at once, and we had to get in the ring right now. And so I was stressed.

Cor was uncertain about, um, just the area and trying to get a feel for it. But we arrived at a point that I wasn’t able to give that to him, and it was just… it was hard, and I already felt like I didn’t belong there, and all this stuff. But I will say that at the end of the day, I’m grateful for the opportunity to have tried. And I’m grateful because, even while we were in the ring, he knew his job, and he could see that I was freaking out and tried to take me to the exit a couple times–which didn’t do great for our score–but, at the end of the day, I’ll take a service dog that knows his job over a rally qualification the first day we try.

So all that to say, I guess, you know, makes sense… *has seizure*

If you feel like you’re somewhere you don’t belong, it could be because you’ve never been there before. Competence is learned and the only way we learn how to be competent at something is by getting through the time that we’re incompetent. And being incompetent is never comfortable, um, ever.

But also, have patience with yourself if the thing that you’re trying to learn isn’t the most important thing. I can’t wait until Cor has a rally title. I can’t wait for qualifications. I can’t wait until dog shows are an easy thing for us. That’s not the case right now, and that’s okay, because the biggest thing for him–and for me–is that he’s a working service dog.

The shows will come.

Anyway, that was my thoughts for tonight. Um, hope you all had a great day.