Dog Tired

Exhausted!

I feel like a wet rag that’s been wrung out too many times. My winter work travel schedule was brutal! I was gone the last seven of eight weekends and worked all week in between. It’s funny, the actual work is enjoyable. I love what I do. The prep, the actual travel, and the unpacking (and re-packing for the next trip) is what really drains my batteries. That, and not enough time with my family and my dogs.

I was at ClickerExpo last week and one of my colleagues asked me if I did any dog sports competitively. I laughed and said “I have no time to do anything with my own dogs.”

Wait. What?

It sounded absurd the instant it came out of my mouth. I guess I’d never said it out loud (although I’ve been dancing around the thought for a long time, I just didn’t know it). I thought about that statement all night (and ever since). That’s just silly — no time for my own dogs? I do what I do because I love dogs, yet I don’t have time for my own.

That’s gotta change!

I haven’t figured out the how’s and when’s, but I will figure a way to scale back some of the things I’m doing so I can have a more regular (and fulfilling) life. I think dog tired can describe a dog just as much as a person. And that’s what I am: dog tired.

Talk back. Everyone has a passion. What’s your passion?

Is your passion also your job? How do you manage to not let your passion become your life? I need help here and would love to hear your thoughts on it all. Experiences, advice, cautionary tales — let me hear from you.