Teaching an old dog new tricks

I have made many, many, MANY mistakes in my life. I don't know if I regret anything I have done. I'm not at the point in my life where I do the whole introspective search to see where I have fallen short. I'm pretty much the "it is what it is" gal. But, I do know and am very aware of some of my short-comings and have worked hard to better myself along the way. I'll tell you one thing for sure, there are many things that I have done that I will NEVER do again.

Recently, the old Linnette had opportunity to rise from the ashes. That certainly would have been the easy way out. I'm prone to over-react. I'm emotionally charged and can set fire to the whole universe if I feel betrayed or hurt. I am very much like the Tasmanian Devil. I can spin around in circles without regard to my surroundings nor the people in my path. BUT this time, I thought VERY HARD about what I wanted say. I took a long look at the person I needed to talk to and what it was that I really needed to communicate. Oh, I wanted to yell, holler to the heavens, cry, rip flesh, fling myself to the ground and start kicking and screaming, snarl, and gnash my teeth. I wanted to turn loose that Tasmanian Devil inside of me and have at the entire world!

I didn't do it. Maybe I have grown up a bit. I addressed the problem. I explained how I felt. I behaved like a big girl and together we SOLVED the problem.

You CAN teach an old dog new tricks. Especially if the old dog you are training is yourself.