I Have Puppy Brain

I recently adopted an approximately 4-month-old puppy. 

And ever since, my life has been nothing but chaos ... after thinking about it for a bit, I figured out why. I now have puppy brain. 

I get nothing done other than watching the puppy, cleaning up after the puppy, and working on training her. In addition to the things that all puppies need to learn – – house training, not chewing on human appendages, on furniture or on rugs and carpets – – she needs work on socialization and fear responses. She seems quite fearful of vehicles we encounter on the road – – there are no sidewalks in my neighborhood – – as well as being fearful of people we encounter during our walks and in particular, other dogs. She gets rewarded with a tiny, soft puppy treat whenever she shows acceptable behavior. And she is a quick learner. I’m already seeing improvements in how she reacts to vehicles and individuals. Her reactions to other dogs, however, can still be quite excessive. But she did very well yesterday morning when she saw her first hot air balloon floating over the road on which we were walking.

Because she is young and full of energy, she gets two walks most mornings. I live in the high desert, and it is simply too hot for a walk after about 10 AM. She eats three meals a day, her lunch being dispersed in a treat ball. I take her outside very frequently to relieve herself and hope that she will eventually figure out that pottying inside is not OK.

I received a soft doggie playpen yesterday, although I’m sure she won’t like spending time in there because she wants to be as close to me as possible. But having her safely confined will give both me and my other dog a break from her antics.

If I’m lucky, I can accomplish one non-puppy thing each day. Yesterday, I vacuumed my bedroom. And I did a small load of laundry and ran the dishwasher at bedtime. So I got three things done yesterday, which is quite unusual these days. I have been working on setting up a new laptop for close to a week.

It is at all extra work with his puppy, however. This morning she had me laughing as she raced around the back yard under the sprinklers. Some days, she’s just a doofus. And these days of puppyhood, as trying as they can be, will not last forever.

With a dog so young and so in need of training, I am sure my puppy brain will be with me for many more months.

This Is How I Thrive

This is how I thrive.

This simple sentence is on a 'frame' on Facebook that I used with a profile photo of myself standing atop a rock formation in Death Valley during a multi-day hike.

Hiking, being outdoors, walking, reading, learning, writing, photography and travel are the things that help me to thrive. 

I am fortunate to have retired from a successful career, and to have both a pension and Social Security income, in addition to savings. So I am free to pursue the things that help me to thrive.

And as I have become older, I have realized how important it is to thrive. I remember my parents and grandparents sitting on a porch swing or in their comfortable living room chairs, passing the years. Did they thrive? I wonder. I don't remember any of them having hobbies, although my parents used to get together with other couples to play cards. And my dad enjoyed hunting and fishing.

I realize that things are much different for my generation than for theirs, but I have the sense that none of them ever thrived. They worked hard, they raised their kids, they were good people, but thriving doesn’t appear to have been commonplace back then. My parents, for example, grew up in the years after the Great Depression. Surviving, not thriving, was the goal.

I also realize that I am very fortunate. I have two college degrees. I come from a stable family. I had good jobs throughout my career. I managed my money well. I am white -- something that shouldn't matter but it clearly does even in 21st century America. I had opportunities and privileges not available to many.

I want to make the most of my remaining years. The time may come soon enough when I can no longer do the things I love. Already I am dealing with a significant loss of vision in one eye. The other eye still allows me to drive, to read and to do photography. Both sides of my family have had dementia or Alzheimer's disease, which is something I fear more than physical decline. So I am doing everything I can -- daily exercise, reading, new experiences through travel, staying involved with current events, learning -- to keep my mind active and, I hope, prevent or at least to delay mental decline. 

The dictionary defines thrive as “to grow or flourish.” I believe that thriving in our personal lives is every bit as important as thriving in our professional lives. My goal is to thrive for the remainder of my life, not merely to survive. To help me thrive, I try my best to eliminate complaints and negative thoughts, as well as negative people, from my world. A close relative was a very negative person the last few years of his life. It was difficult to be around so much negativity. All that negativity brought me down. As a result of that experience, I have made a point of trying not to get caught in a negative spiral. I’m not a Pollyanna by any means, but I do try to find the positive even in potentially negative situations.

For example, one early morning while on a photography safari in Tanzania, we were greeted by heavy fog. My first thought was that there wouldn’t be any good photo opportunities because of the fog. But it soon became apparent that the fog provided some amazing opportunities for photography. The other people in the vehicle with me and I soon began voicing our hopes that the following morning would also be foggy. Sadly, it wasn’t.

I recently sent a small bag of coffee beans grown on the slopes of Tanzania's Mt. Kilimanjaro to a woman I know only online. She was ecstatic to receive this simple and unexpected gift. In her thank-you card, she noted that it arrived on a day when she needed some cheer. I didn't know what was going on in her life at that time, but somehow the universe knew.

I hope to thrive by following these principles. Be grateful. Live authentically. Practice forgiveness (I really struggled with this after being dumped by my husband of 24 years as he chased a true bimbo). Look for the beautiful things in life. Spend time in nature. Take care of yourself. Take responsibility for your life. Keep learning and growing. Spend time with people who lift you up rather than bring you down. Spend time doing things you love. Be generous and charitable as you are able. Do things for others, either as random acts of kindness (pay for the coffee of the person behind you at Starbucks) or as a volunteer. 

Are you thriving in your life?

 

Stealing Is Not OK

Stealing is not OK.

In fact, it is immoral. It is unethical. It also is illegal.

Stealing is wrong and illegal whether the stolen item is tangible -- a steak from the supermarket or a shirt from the department store -- or whether it is intellectual property such as someone's writings or video or photograph.

I recently was the victim of the theft of my intellectual property -- a digital image I had shared on a Facebook page of people with shared interests. I had noticed that one person in the group never posted anything, but she shared every.single.image I (and presumably, others) posted. So I checked out her FB page, and found that -- wait for it! -- her profile picture was a photo I had recently shared of a cute leopard cub. She had stolen my image and was passing it off, at least implicitly, as her own. This person isn't even a photographer. No photographer I know, whether professional or hobbyist, would ever steal another photographer's work.

I checked with a friend who belongs to the same group to find out whether she had had photos stolen by the same person. She had not, but she reported that the thief had shared every photo posted -- definitely not a normal thing. I do share things from time to time, but never every post on the page, and always with attribution. So my friend messaged the person and called her out for stealing my image. Amazingly, the thief quickly changed her profile picture. I had already blocked her so she can't steal any more of my images, and my friend did the same. Then I reported the thief to the page administrator, who didn’t seem concerned.

I add a watermark to every image I post if it is one of which I am particularly proud, but not to every photo because it takes time. I had an image stolen by a so-called friend several years ago. My daughter and I both called her out, but she did not remove the stolen image. It wasn't one of which I was particularly proud, so I simply unfriended the person.

Even hobbyist photographers like me have invested thousands of dollars in our cameras, lenses, tripods, spare batteries and memory cards, and other gear. We spend a lot of money to travel to Africa and other far-flung places in order to get access to the magnificent wildlife and scenes we photograph. We get up long before dawn to be in position for the best light and when animals become active. We spend hours reviewing, sorting and editing our images. And then some self-entitled lurker feels it's OK to steal our work?  

This experience makes me seriously consider not sharing my photos, but then I would deprive all those who truly enjoy and appreciate my images without needing to steal them.

Please remember that intellectual property, just like tangible property, belongs to someone. Please respect that fact. Enjoy, but please don't be a thief.

 

Chasing Life

Chasing Life is the title of a new podcast with CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta "to help us approach our new normal mindfully as we balance self-care and productivity."

It immediately struck me that chasing life is what we all do, or at least, what we should be doing. Yet it seems that too many people have given up on chasing life and are content to let life unfold on its own terms and at its own speed. Inertia and stagnation and -- dare I say it? -- laziness are difficult to overcome. And of course, the coronavirus pandemic has wrought major changes to our lives, emotionally, mentally, financially and physically. It also has given us an opportunity -- even a nudge -- to reset our lives. 

Now that the pandemic is easing and more Americans are getting vaccinated, we are faced with the question of what kind of lives we want to chase in the future. It’s pretty apparent that things will not go back to the normal to which we are accustomed. So it’s up to us to create a new normal.

I'm pretty happy with the life I have led for many years, but I have always felt that there is something lacking. I recently met a woman who, it seems to me, is chasing life to the fullest. She is living with an incurable disease that nearly took her life. The treatment to which she was subjected was brutal, leaving her unable to walk for 6 months. But now that she is well -- or as well as it is possible to be while living with an incurable disease -- she is embracing life. She runs several miles a day. She climbs mountains. She hikes. She travels. She follows her passion of photography. She is kind. She is a supportive wife and friend. She loves animals.

The pandemic has caused many people -- I among them -- to reassess their priorities and examine their lives. After hearing her story and seeing her resilience, I asked myself what I will chase for the remainder of my life.

What kind of life should I chase? Fancy cars and big houses never have interested me. I live a pretty simple life, spending very little on myself except for travel. I am happy with the photography gear I have and I see no need to constantly chase the latest and greatest equipment. I have a good car, and I don’t need anything newer or more expensive. I prefer to spend my money on charitable donations and on experiences in interesting places.  

I told this woman that she has inspired me to live better because I wanted her to know. I pledge to give my absolute best effort to chasing my life, however much of it remains. So I will be generous with donations to nonprofit organizations that I support. I will continue to make it possible for a deserving female student from rural Kenya to attend high school by funding a 4-year scholarship. I will try to always be kind to those I encounter, whether I know them or not. I will look for opportunities to do nice things for family and friends. I will continue to read and learn and keep my brain active. I will continue to travel for as long as I am mentally and physically able to do so. I will work on improving my photography skills.

My unsolicited advice to you: Chase your dreams. Chase the things that make you feel alive and happy. Chase excellence in whatever you do. Chase the quality of your life rather than the quantity, although we should hope for both. Don't wait for a life-threatening diagnosis to begin chasing your life. We don't know when life as we know it will come to a screeching halt. 

So get out there and chase your life.