If you want something, keep at it until you get it.

But don’t get too attached.

“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.” ~ Maya Angelou ~

Ella

There’s no doubt that once I set my mind to something, I would achieve my goal. When I was a puppy, I would work on tearing open my toys until I managed to get the squeaker out. I loved to lay there and just squeeze, squeeze, squeeze, making lots of noise with those little plastic parts inside the toy. Some toys were harder than others to rip apart, but I would find the weak spot and work on it until I got it open. I was determined to get that squeaker out, but the point of sharing this story is to tell you to not get too attached. Once I had squeaked to my heart’s content, I would move on to the next thing.

There were many things that I was interested in doing and getting, and I usually succeeded. If there was a trash bin hidden in a cabinet under the kitchen sink, I would open the cabinet door, pull the bin out, and proceed to pull every last bit of trash out of the bag to look for anything good. If there was food in a drawer that was at my level, I would figure out a way to open that drawer and eat whatever was inside. If there was a zipped bag in the car with treats in it, I would open the zipper to get inside. My ability to do all of those things might surprise some people, but I knew what I wanted and wouldn’t let anything stand in my way. It might take multiple attempts, but I eventually honed my skills in all of these tasks and they became easier each time I had the opportunity to do them.

I didn’t get too hung up on anything. Some dogs are crazy about chasing the ball. They’ll bring it back to their human over and over until one of them is too exhausted to continue. I preferred variety. I did chase a ball once or twice, but then I wanted to go check out a new smell or visit with a person who came by. Sure, I was attached to Mom, but I gave her space – I wasn’t right by her side all of the time. If I knew she was safe, like inside the house working at her desk, I would go do something else. If we were at the dog park, I would trot off to check out all of the smells along the fence line.

Mala and Tessie

Like Ella, we both have things that we like to do but aren’t too obsessed with any one thing (unless you count snow). Mala’s favorite thing is to run around really fast, preferably with a stick in her mouth. She’s determined to find the biggest stick that she can. If it happens to be partially stuck in the ground or snow, she’ll keep tugging at it until she gets it out. She’ll toss it around, break pieces off, and chew on it for a bit, but then is ready to do something else, like wrestle with me.

Tessie loves to play frisbee or fetch her stuffed octopus (the only toy that she hasn’t put a hole in yet). Like Ella, Tessie will sit and work on the weak spot of a toy until she can get to the stuffing. She likes to pull stuffing out all over the place, but then she’ll move on to the next thing. Tessie has destroyed most of my toys, but luckily our family keeps buying us more and Mom has stitched up some of my favorites.

It’s important to have goals and work hard to achieve them, but things change constantly. You can’t get too attached to one outcome. Things might not turn out the way you planned, but chances are, you’ll end up with exactly the situation that you needed. The trick is to find the gift in what is and stop worrying so much about what was or what will be. If you live in the present moment and avoid getting too attached, you’ll be better able to go with the flow of life and deal with whatever comes your way.